Sokka and the Prince
by Akuma-Koneko
Summary: Prince Zuko captures...Sokka? NOT SokkaxZuko! Chapter Fourteen up! Zutara, eventually...it's getting there! No Sokka pairing as of yet.
1. An Embarrassing Morning

Hi guys! I know I should finish my other stories before starting a new one, but the new episodes of the Avatar have inspired me to at least attempt a fanfic…let's see if I can make it a unique one….

* * *

Sokka was sleeping. At least, he assumed he was. All around him drifted scents of food, delectable, mouth watering, scrumptious food. Since they had begun traveling with Aang, food always seemed to be in short supply…so either they had gotten really lucky and gotten picked up by some sympathetic lord, or he was dreaming.

"Sokka! Wake UP!"

...Crap. Dreaming.

Sokka mumbled angrily as thescent of fooddissipated into the usual piney smell, and he was unhappily reminded of their current impoverished state – sleeping in a forest. No food, no money, no compassionate women to care for him…he smiled and blushed slightly as he remembered Suki and Yue.

_Smack!_ He yelped, and stood up angrily as Aang giggled. Why did Katara always have to water whip him? And why, oh why, did Aang laugh every single time she did it? This was at least the hundredth time…and Sokka knew his reaction was always the same…so _why_ was Aang still giggling? Harder than usual, actually…that was a bad sign…

Sokka racked his brain as he stood there, trying to think of why Aang would be laughing so hard. He sent his mind back, reviewing the occurrences of the day before for anything potentially humorous and humiliating.

_Let's see…Got chased by Zuko…practically crash landed, and the stupid fire-bastard caught up…**oh. **__Stupid fire-bastards attacked me, and burned... _

He sighed, now in full possession of his memory. He looked up, Aang's giggling still echoing merrily around the clearing. Katara's back was towards him, her neck (what he could see of it, at least) bright red, which meant she was blushing. He looked down at himself and completed his thought.

…_Burned my clothes off…_

Sokka sat down quickly and covered himself with his sleeping bag. Aang finally stopped laughing, the hilarity of the situation wearing off. Katara glanced warily back at him to see it there was anything potentially embarrassing for her to see there. Assured that it was safe to turn around, she did so, and immediately started berating him.

"Sokka, you are such an idiot! How do you manage to not only lose all your clothes to fire-benders last night, but…"

_Whoa,_ Sokka thought, _that sounds so wrong, it's not like they stole them…_

"But then you _forgot_ that you had no clothes on and had to stand up, showing your…your...your _whatever_ to everyone…!" Katara finished.

"Yeah, yeah…I forgot, ok? Usually when you whip me, you expect me on my feet immediately, so I just got up..." Sokka gave up; she had, of course, decided that he was trying to blame it on her, as usual, so he tried a new tactic.

"Look, I can't get up like this, so could someone lend me something to wear? I'm freezing, and they burned my pack too, not just what I was wearing, as you ought to recall." Sokka snapped, annoyed.

Aang shrugged. "I'd lend you my stuff, but it won't fit you…Katara?" Aang turned to her, trusting that she would have some solution, as she usually did. Sokka's heart fell. Aang was only twelve, so of course his clothes wouldn't fit. Katara was fourteen, but tall for her age…and Sokka was skinnier than she was…So the logical course, as Aang and Katara seemed to have realized, was for Sokka to wear something of Katara's.

_Crap. No way. There's no way I'm going to…

* * *

Some time later, after much arguing…_

"Sokka, I know you don't want to, but there's no other way! We'll walk until we get to a village, and then you can stay with Appa and Momo while we go find you some new clothes."

Sokka pouted. "Fine. As long as I don't have to go into the village."

Katara rolled her eyes, and dug through her pack. She pulled out her loosest parka and matching clothes, handing them to Sokka. Katara turned around as Sokka pulled them on, wrestling with the unfamiliar fit.

Aang started giggling. Again. Katara turned around and joined in; Momo, on Aang's shoulder was chattering playfully, and even Appa seemed to be grinning at the sight of a cross-dressing Sokka.

Sokka sighed. It was going to be a long walk.

* * *

There! It's not very long, but I think (I hope..) it's a good start. I tried to make it funny...I'm no comedian, so I hope it worked...Writing from Sokka's POV is so fun! I tried to portray him as absentminded, rebellious, and a little bit perverted...Please read and review! Please tell me how you feel about his personality...I don't know if I should change it at all, or what...thank you! 


	2. Walking

Ok, I'm getting Chapter Two out of the way before I get distracted. Here goes!

* * *

Sokka stumbled over a tree root and almost fell. While doing so, he also caught his foot in the hem of Katara's skirt (which he was currently wearing) and fell ignominiously on his rear with a loud yelp of dismay. Fortunately, since he was still in the forest, he landed on the soft layer of pine needles that coated everything.

Sokka grumbled, but stood up wearily. "This stupid outfit – how on earth is anyone supposed to walk in it, much less fight!"

Katara came running up to him.

"Sokka! I heard you yell, are you alright?" Sokka, garbed as he was, had opted to walk parallel to Aang and Katara, he in the forest, they on the road. True, it was unlikely that anyone used the road anymore, but Sokka's pride refused to allow him to walk in public in girl's clothes.

"I'm fine, I just tripped. How on earth do you _walk_ in this ridiculous excuse for clothing?" Sokka demanded. He knew she managed, obviously, but knowing it and being able to do so himself were two completely different matters.

She giggled. It figured.

"Watch! See, you can't take such long strides; if you're going to run, hoist up the skirt a bit so you can move your knees better. Take shorter steps…like so." She demonstrated, as Aang approached, giggling as usual, to watch Sokka's first lesson on how to walk properly in a skirt.

_Good lord…I'm never going to live this down…_thought Sokka as he tried walking as Katara had showed him. Surprisingly, it helped. A lot.

"Ok…thanks, Katara. You guys can go back to the road…have you seen any signs of a village yet?"

They shook their heads apologetically, and walked back to the road. Sokka, meanwhile, continued to practice this new way of walking.

* * *

An hour later

"Sokka! Hey, Sokka!" A whoosh of air and Aang's call alerted him, bringing him out of his daydream.

"We found a village! It's a really small one though, so Katara's already scouting along the outskirts for a place for you to wait."

Sokka nodded gratefully. He wasn't used to such an inefficient style of walking, so his legs were starting to hurt. Besides, the sooner Katara found a place, the sooner he could stop cross-dressing!

Aang looked at him for a moment more. Just then, Momo made a dramatic entrance, swooping in from the tree lofts and landing gracefully on Aang's shoulder.

"Oh! Katara's found a spot. Come on!"

Sokka raised an eyebrow at Aang's unnaturally excited reception of the news.

_What's up with him?_

"Hey Katara! I found him!" Aang's cheerful greeting echoed in the small clearing where Katara sat.

She stood up and greeted them both. She, too, seemed awfully cheerful. Sokka raised another eyebrow.

_Exactly what happened while she and Aang were walking together?_ All of Sokka's big brotherly alarms were going off, but just this once, he decided to ignore them. _After all, if I make a fuss, it'll take them longer to leave._

"Well?" he demanded, "Why are you two still here? Go get clothes for me!" That earned him a glare from Katara. "And take Momo and Appa with you, a warrior needs some time alone."

All he got from that was outright laughter. Apparently the idea of a warrior dressed in girls clothes meditating was too much for them to handle; they were still snickering as the exited the clearing with Momo and Appa. He sighed, and sat down on a stump.

_Peace at last…_

* * *

Ok…that was a pointless chapter. Kind of like an interlude, I guess. But whatever. More interesting stuff next chapter! 


	3. Ships, Shopping, and Capture

Ok…I'll try to make this chapter funnier and more interesting…Please R&R!

* * *

He lowered himself to the ground, crossing his legs into the posture of meditation, pressing his hands together, palm to palm, before him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, releasing it as he began to relax, muscle by well-toned muscle. Slowly, slowly he let his mind drift away from his current humiliation and into the future. 

_Bam_. The door to his room slammed open, disrupting his mood.

"Prince Zuko!"

All the calm that had filled him only moments before evaporated, and was replaced with fiery anger. The exiled Prince of the Fire Nation leapt to his feet, and whirled, ready to cremate the intruder immediately.

"_What – is – it?_" He snarled, fire flickering menacingly in and around his fists.

The messenger (for that was who it was), trembled.

"I-it's the A-avatar, milord Zuko, sir! He's been s-sighted again, he and the t-two w-water-benders who travel with him!"

"Well, it's about _time_!" Zuko growled, calming despite himself at the good news. He strode out of his room, leaving the messenger to close the door behind him, and swept off to the main cabin. He slammed the door open and strode to the side of ex-General Iroh, who was busily consuming a glass of his favorite tea.

"Uncle!" he said sharply, "You have heard?"

Iroh raised an eyebrow. He didn't miss much around the ship, so of course he'd heard. Zuko knew that, so why bother asking every single time?

"Yes, I heard; when you are finished being dramatic, we can go find him. However –"

Zuko cut him off huffily. "I am _not_ being dramatic! Finish your tea, Uncle!"

Iroh winked at the men from behind Zuko. "As I was saying before you interrupted, may I suggest a change in strategy? As your last attempt proved, outright attacks are basically useless. Perhaps it is time to try using one of the water-children as bait…?" He let the suggestion dangle in the air as the Prince thought it over.

"Very well, Uncle. I'll try to capture one of them. You stay here and prepare a holding cell out of one of the guest rooms."

Sokka stretched, waking up after a long afternoon nap. Katara and Aang weren't back yet, so he decided to look around a bit. The clearing basically consisted of a river with a high rock wall on one side of it, and a small beach on the other. Sokka was seated above the river, at a vantage point from which he spotted a large island.

_That would be an ideal campsite…_he thought, _totally defendable, equipped with water and…Fish!_

He made his way to the island, with only one or two minor mishaps when his skirt (blasted excuse for a piece of clothing!) caught on a rock, and set up camp. He caught two fish, one of which he cooked and ate himself, and the other he placed in a small secluded pool for later consumption. That being finished, he lay down, gazing at the small beach. The sun had set, and the temperature dropped. Sokka pulled on the hood of the parka and fell asleep.

* * *

Prince Zuko and his small band of fire-benders approached the village. He signaled them to come close and listen to him. 

"Look for water, any water source. The avatar and his companions have probably stopped to get supplies, but I'm sure one of them was left to watch their belongings. The female is the most likely to have been left behind, and she will have set herself up by some stream or another. When you find her, alert me; do not attack on your own," he whispered.

They obeyed him and spread out, eyes and ears perked for any sign of water.

* * *

"Hey, Aang! Look at this!" Katara called excitedly. She held up a long, slitted blue skirt up for his inspection. "Do you think this would look better on me, or on Sokka?" she asked, laughing. 

"Hmm…I dunno, Katara, that's a tough question…" He burst out laughing, but the corner of his eye twitched a bit. It was a small town, it was true…however, it was also the biggest center of fashionable wear for benders in the area, and he and Katara had only been to half of she stalls. They'd picked out Sokka's clothes five hours ago, and when Aang had jokingly suggested that Katara might find some nice clothes too, she had taken it a little too much to heart. He groaned, and followed Katara on to the next stall.

* * *

"Prince Zuko, sir. We found her." One of the men pointed out the sleeping bender from the rock wall they stood on. She was curled cutely in the middle of a river on an island. Zuko frowned that she had chosen such a defendable spot, but moved in for the capture anyway. He took a deep breath and jumped, landing nimbly on his feet next to the quiescent bender, and landed a sharp blow on her head, knocking her out for easier transport. 

"There. When you awaken, you shall be the honored guest of Prince Zuko's ship," Zuko said with a sneer.

* * *

"Katara…Don't you think we should get back? Sokka will be furious!" Aang cried desperately. The sun had gone down long ago, but the shops were still open. 

"No, he'll be fine…we'll leave as soon as the stands close." Aang resisted the urge to burst into tears. He wandered over to the closest stall and asked the owner when they closed.

"Close? Why no, sonny, we never close! We keep all night shifts here!" If he had hair, Aang would have torn it out. As it was, he stuffed his fist in his mouth to muffle his frustrated screams, and followed Katara to yet another stall.

* * *

Yay! Three Chapters in one day! I really have too much freetime. Hopefully, this one will be funnier...Zuko has entered the plot.Katara might be a little OOC, but I dunno...I'm new to this. Poor Aang! Oh, sorry about all the switching viewpoints. Now that Zuko and Sokka are in one place, there'll be less of that. Review please! Comments on personality would be appreciated. Thanks! 


	4. Revalations and Red Satin Sheets

Hey guys! Here's another chapter, and there should be less switching around now. As usual, I'll try to make it funny. In the last chapter, Prince Zuko captures Sokka, Aang and Katara go shopping, and Uncle Iroh prepares Sokka's 'cell' behind the scenes. Here it goes, I hope you like it!

* * *

Prince Zuko strode towards his ship, a rare smile of triumph creasing his face. Sokka, as he was unconscious at the moment, missed seeing said rare occasion. Zuko's men, on the other hand, were lucky enough to be awake, and all were amazed. In fact, one of them fainted dead away, and had to be dragged back by two of the other men. Oh well.

* * *

Meanwhile, Katara had finally made her purchases, and she and Aang were on their way back to their campsite. By now, it was almost dawn, and poor Aang was permanently traumatized, and would scream if anyone so much as thought the word "shopping" in his presence.

When they finally reached the campsite, they found it deserted. Katara looked around the clearing, glanced at Aang, and sighed.

The she inhaled deeply, and yelled, "**_Sokka!_**"

Every bird in the clearing and surrounding forest within exactly five miles of her burst into flight; every person within the same range cringed in fear. Aang was painfully tempted to do both, but refrained out of worry for Sokka and his own life. Instead, he started looking for clues to poor Sokka's whereabouts. He air-bended swiftly down to the island in the river. After he looked around for a moment, he relayed what he saw to Katara.

"Hey, Katara! Look, the packs are down here on the island! There's even a fish caught in this little pool – Sokka must have been down here…" He noted the imprint in the sand from Sokka's body. His eyes then wandered to the deep impressions of footprints and the slightly melted sand at a spot next to where Sokka had lain.

"…"

"Well? Is there anything elsedown there?" Katara asked impatiently.

"Hmm…melted sand where someone landed…no footprints from Sokka…melted sand…since when does sand melt? When it's hot…so…hot sand…"

"Well?" Katara was getting impatient, but Aang was still thinking. Finally he reached a conclusion.

" …Ooh! Katara, Sokka's been kidnapped by fire-benders!" He looked up at her, expecting praise for his little revelation, but Katara was long gone. She was already running in the direction of the beach where she knew that Prince Zuko's ship inevitably had landed. Aang sighed, grabbed the packs and the lone captured fish, and tossed them onto Appa, and rushed to catch up with Katara.

* * *

Back with the Prince

Zuko reached his ship at exactly the moment Aang and Katara reached the campsite. The ship set sail immediately. When it was docked, the ship was exactly 4.9 miles from Katara, so the prince (a/n: fortunately for my plot P) was out of range of her scream by the time she released it. But that's not the point. Let's backtrack a bit to when Sokka arrived.

* * *

Upon boarding, Zuko dismissed his men to go have a victory celebration, and carried the water peasant to her new room.

_Yeesh…She's awfully heavy, for a starving water-peasant! Must be all the extra weight from that coat thing..._

He passed Uncle Iroh's room, and paused to inform his Uncle of the good news.

"Uncle! I caught her, the water peasant. Is her room prepared?"

Iroh looked up. He had been playing Pi Sho against himself for hours, and had yet to decide who would win, and who would have to go make him some tea.

"Ah, Prince Zuko! Congratulations. I will take the water-bender to her new chambers; you go and celebrate with the men, or meditate or something."

Without another word he strode out of the room, snagging the still-unconscious Sokka from his nephew on the way out. Zuko raised an inquiring eyebrow, but retreated to him room to get some well-deserved rest. His restoration of honor was finally in motion, and in the morning, he would go speak to the water-peasant. He chuckled to himself, well pleased, and walked off, still laughing.

Iroh smiled cheerfully. Not only had the endless Pi Sho game come to an end, he got to set up the water-bender in her new quarters. He'd prepared them especially for his nephew's comfort…the former-general's smile spread wider as he gently placed the captive on the wide, red-satin-sheeted bed, and left, locking the door behind him.

* * *

There! It is finished. Sorry, I know it's short…I'm kinda rushed, so…I'll try to get another up soon. Please, please tell me if you think there's something I need to fix for the story, I'm going to worry myself to death if I don't get at least _one_ piece of constructive criticism! But if you don't have any criticism, review anyway. Thanks for reading! Until next chapter, then! Ciao. 


	5. Revealed

Ok, I'm writing this at school during a first period free, so I'll see how far I can get. (My free ended, but I finished a test early, so I'm finishing up now) Whee! Enjoy, people, Zuko realizes his mistake!

* * *

Sokka sat up, looking around. He was in a room…a lavishly decorated room, with a fiery red theme. He was sitting on the bed, and a very large bed, it was too, with huge plush pillows and red satin sheets.

_Red satin? Where am I, a brothel?_

Katara's light blue parka outfit, which he was still wearing (Sokka blushed until his face matched the sheets…to be cross-dressing in a room like this was so embarrassing!), clashed shockingly with the all the red, and Sokka had a distinct urge to rid himself of it. But then he reconsidered; red theme, iron walls and floor, and a large bump on the back of his head; he must have been kidnapped by someone in the Fire Nation…but by whom? Who would put him in such a weird room?

_Someone with either really weird taste, or a really dirty mind…

* * *

Katara and Aang finally reached the shoreline; obviously, Zuko's ship was long gone._

"Aang, we have got to catch up with them! You know how uptight fire-benders are – when they see that he's a cross-dresser, who knows what they'll do to him!"

The Avatar called to Appa, and they climbed on. Aang looked around in the saddle for Sokka's fish, but it was gone, so he figured Momo must have eaten it. Sokka would be pissed…oh well. With a resigned "Yip yip!" Appa had them up in the air, following the ship full of fire-benders and one cross-dresser.

* * *

Zuko's mind had been running full steam since he had retired to his room. The easiest way to get the peasant to talk would be to have her fall in love with him, he reasoned, so all he had to do was convince her that he loved her, and would protect her, and all that juicy information would come spilling out. Probably. So he began planning a way to turn himself into a good guy in her eyes. Finally, as a new day had begun, it was time to put his brilliant plan into action.

He gathered his crew before the prisoner's cell; he explained what they were to do and nodded at them to begin. Several looked uncomfortable, and a few looked pleased at their role. Well, it didn't matter how they felt, as long as they got the job done. Still, he ordered the pleased ones to the front.

They pulled open the door a crack. The water-peasant, hearing it, sat up on the bed, looking in alarm at all the greedy faces staring through the door. The crew whistled and catcalled at 'her,' and smiled lasciviously. The peasants face was hidden under a hood, but they could see her eyebrows were contracted in fear. 'She' opened her mouth to cry out – and Zuko 'arrived' valiantly on the scene.

"What do you think you're doing? Get away from there, leave her alone, you mongrels…" he cried, ushering them away from the door. Sadly for his plan, one of the stupider crewmen felt obliged to protest,

"But Zuko sir, we were only obeying your orders, just like you –"

"_Shut up!_" Zuko hissed angrily, giving the crewman a kick and propelling him away from the water-peasant's cell. Fortunately, Sokka had been caught on the words "her" and "Zuko, sir," and hadn't noticed what else had been said after.

_Crap! He thinks I'm a girl, thinks I'm Katara…What do he and Katara have going, that he'd protect her so boldly? And that he'd put her in a room like this…?_

Zuko entered the room, striving to look embarrassed by his crew's "assault." Then he noticed the room's décor, and blushed furiously.

"_Uncle!_ What did you do to her _room_? It's all, all…red! And whatever!" Sokka raised an inquiring eyebrow. Zuko hadn't known the room was like this? Zuko turned back to his prisoner, now truly embarrassed, and apologized profusely.

"I'm very sorry about my Uncle…I didn't realize he'd done this to your room, I told him to prepare it while I went to get you, but I didn't intend…"

Sokka cleared this throat. It was time to get this over with.

"Look, it doesn't matter, 'cuz I'm not who you think I am." He removed his hood, and Zuko's eyes bulged in horror and anger. This was _not_ according to plan. He'd captured the water-bender's _brother_. Well, there was no way that Zuko was going to try to seduce _him_ for information, not a chance. Ew!

"You…what are _you_ doing here? I thought you were Katara! And what's up with your clothes? You're a cross-dresser!" Zuko cried, upset at the lost opportunity.

"I'm here because _you_ kidnapped me, you jerk! It's all _your_ fault, don't blame me! Your stupid fire-benders burned my clothes so I had to wear Katara's while she went to buy more!" Sokka retorted, getting annoyed, "And how do you know my sister's name, anyway? You'd better not have touched her or anything, or I'll –"

Zuko paused. How _had_ he known her name? He'd been calling her "water-bender" or "peasant" the whole story so far, so where had that come from? Whatever.

"Um…I heard you yelling at her, last time when I was chasing the Avatar…I guess."

"Oh. Well, anyway, you'd better keep away from her. And what was up with your lecherous crew? Trying to make a good entrance to get on my good side? Well you canthink again, _Prince_!"

At this point, Uncle Iroh entered. He was annoyed that his nephew's plan had not worked out, and that he wouldn't have any grand-nephews anytime soon, and that they were yelling up a storm. So he decided to intervene.

"Prince Zuko, you captured her brother? No matter. An annoyance, and a delay, but in the long run, it comes to the same thing. He knows the Avatar, and he is very close with his sister; she will come to rescue him soon." Zuko nodded and calmed down (just as well, because satin burns very quickly, and Zuko had been starting to throw off sparks). Sokka didn't, but he shut up and listened too. Iroh, seeing that he had their attention, continued.

"Now, Zuko, why don't you go tell the helmsman to stop the ship at the next port, and give the Avatar a chance to catch up, hmm? I will refurnish his room, in the meantime." Zuko smiled; his uncle was a genius! Sokka smiled too, the clash of red and blue was really getting on his nerves.

* * *

Later

* * *

His room was finally they way he wanted it. Ok, not really, but it was better, at least; the red had been replaced with black or taken out entirely; Sokka was no fan of black, but it was an improvement (and he still got the big comfy bed!). Just one thing left to do.

"General Iroh, sir –"

"Call me Uncle."

"Uncle Iroh, sir – oh, I'm Sokka, by the way."

"Pleased to meet you, Sokka, but don't call me sir. Now, what did you need?"

"Uncle Iroh…Can I have some clothes?"

* * *

Yay! Done! I hope you like it! Sokka and Zuko could have argued for years, so I made Iroh break in. Too bad he has to wait for his grandnephews...R&R please! 3! 


	6. Sokka's New Clothes

Alright! 5 chapters up so far, more on the way. Oh, I don't think there'll be another update until Friday or Saturday, 'cuz I'm busy tomorrow, so I'm going to try to get this one and another one up today. Keep the reviews coming; you people are my self-confidence boosters! Thanks! Here it goes.

* * *

Uncle Iroh laughed. Well, that figured; Sokka had expected it. Still, he had been laughing for ten minutes now, and enough was enough. He inhaled deeply and spoke.

"Uncle Iroh, could you _please_ stop? I'm embarrassed enough as it is just from _wearing_ these stupid things, and now you just have to go and _laugh_ at me! Go find something I can wear! Like guys clothes! Now!" Iroh paused in mid-laugh as Sokka began speaking. Sokka had spoken at one-minute intervals for the ten minutes he'd been laughing, and Iroh had been too curious to hear what Sokka'd say next to stop laughing. Still, the boy sounded serious this time, and if he didn't go, he got the feeling Sokka would go raid Zuko's closet. Actually, hearing about how her brother raided Zuko's closet might make interesting small talk for Katara and Zuko…Nah, better not. Iroh liked his hair and didn't appreciate the thought of having it burnt off. So Iroh left.

Sokka was about an inch shorter than Zuko, but was just as buff, so Iroh figured that Zuko's clothes were probably the best choice; water tribe people did tend to have a fetish for cleanliness, which the crewmen (sadly) did not seem to share.

* * *

Zuko, on the way back from a meeting with the steersman, found his uncle in his room, going through his closet.

"Uncle! What are you doing? This is _my_ room – you aren't some sort of closet pervert, are you? (a/n: Pun not intended)" Iroh shuddered at the very idea (in sync with Zuko, who was just as horrified).

"A – no! No, I am _not_! Your guest –"

"Prisoner." Katara being a guest, fine. Her brother? Not a chance.

"- Is in need of a new set of clothes, as he is currently wearing his sister's dress. He has consented to give you the dress as a possible bargaining piece in the future, if you will allow him to wear something of yours."

Zuko considered. He didn't know how useful a dress was as a bargaining chit…but hey; it was still hers, right? She was cute, as non-fire-benders went, and it was a cute dress, even if it smelled like her brother at the moment. Still…to give up one of his precious few outfits to a smelly water peasant? Yuck! Zuko pondered a moment longer.

"…I agree, on the condition that he wash the clothes before returning them." Zuko sighed; even a hard washing probably wouldn't get the smell of Sokka out of his clothes, but it was worth it for the dress.

Iroh chuckled as he left with the clothes in hand. Sokka, of course, had said nothing about the dress, but as he had guessed, it made all the difference in his nephew's decision. Besides, it was worth a lie to see how a water boy would look in a fire nation outfit.

As it turned out, it looked fine. Better than fine, really; where the harsh colors made fire nation skin look sickly pale, it make Sokka look a nice honeyed-wheat color. Not that Iroh noticed such things.

"Thanks, Uncle Iroh, this is _much_ better! Honestly, how do girls survive those skirts?" Iroh smiled. Time to get the dress away from Sokka.

"So you truly did not wish to wear it? I do not know about you, but if _I_ were ever forced into such a garment, I would never wish to see it again." Sokka shuddered, and nodded in agreement.

"I don't! Ever! I hope Katara bought a lot for herself while she was shopping, 'cuz I'm definitely burning all of her clothes that so much as resemble that, that _thing_!" Iroh smiled again. Too easy!

"In that case, I can take this off your hands for just that; you are on a ship of fire-benders, as you recall." Sokka brightened, looking truly grateful.

"Really? Thanks so much, Uncle Iroh! I was wondering what to do with it. Here, it's all yours, I _never_ want to see it again!" Iroh's smile broadened, and he accepted the dress. Sokka immediately dropped his hands to wipe them on his shirt, but paused, looking guilty. Iroh's smile took on a wry edge.

"Zuko's condition for you wearing his clothes was that they had to be washed before you returned them; as long as they aren't damaged, you may treat them as you like." Sokka relaxed, and lay back on the bed for some well-deserved rest as Iroh exited his chambers.

* * *

Katara and Aang had finally caught sight of Prince Zuko's ship.

_It's about time,_ Katara thought huffily, _he'd better not have damaged that dress I lent him; that was my favorite outfit! _

Aang sighed. He was doing that a lot lately. It seemed that Katara turned into a supreme imperatrix when her brother wasn't present to bring her down to size. Aang knew he owed Katara his life, and probably more, but man! She could be annoying. Life without Sokka was a real drag! He couldn't wait to get Sokka back – maybe he could negotiate an exchange with Zuko…?

* * *

Heehee! Maybe, maybe not. Oh, and at this point, Zuko still has Katara's mother's necklace. Just for future note. This was more of a humor that a plot chapter, I think. Next one might be the same, might not. We'll see.R&R! I love you all! 


	7. Apologies and The Unforgiving

Look, I actually found some time today to post! Yay! Let's see what I can get done.

* * *

The steersman of Zuko's ship was confused. Very much so, in fact. Not only had he been ordered to stop the ship, it was _not_ because the avatar was somewhere on the island. In fact, it seemed that they were _waiting_ for the Avatar, who had recently appeared behind them. Weird. Still, he figured he might as well take advantage of the opportunity to get some repairs done on the ship. He docked the ship on a small island, once inhabited by earth-benders, but recently taken over by renegade fire-benders. He was none to keen on renegades, of course, but they supported Zuko in the fact that he was an exile too, so they would at least get a warm welcome.

* * *

Katara lay in quiet misery on Appa's back, silently praying that her brother was safe. All that she had done in the past three days had been cruel, and she knew it. Taking so long to shop? Revenge on Sokka for making her lend him her favorite outfit, and revenge on Aang for making Sokka even more uncomfortable by laughing. No, it wasn't logical, and it wasn't nice…and this last day, Aang kept sighing, and she just _knew_ he was mad at her, or at least annoyed. She echoed his latest sigh and sat up. 

"Aang?"

"Yeah?" Aang was worried. She sounded upset; was she mad or something?

"…I'm sorry. I've been so mean to you recently! I shouldn't have shopped so long – I involved you in my private revenge on Sokka, and I shouldn't have done that." Aang's jaw dropped. (Fortunately, Momo caught it, and Aang was able to reattach it.) An apology was the _last_ thing he'd expected – and she'd only taken so long shopping to get back at Sokka?

_What a weird way to get revenge…_

Still, at least she admitted it, and was sorry. While all this was running through his head, Katara was still confessing.

"- and I didn't mean to be so rude to you when we found him missing, and up until now; I was just so worried about Sokka that I got really upset…I'm so sorry!" There. She'd said it. She hated admitting that she was in the wrong; who didn't?

"It's ok, Katara…seriously, it doesn't matter, as long as you stop. And," he finished, laughing like he had before this whole ordeal had started, "as long as you _never_ make me go shopping with you when you're mad at Sokka!" Katara joined in his laughter, losing the haunted look that she'd taken on when she started talking. Now that the atmosphere was less tense, they began to talk about how they would get Sokka back, taking into consideration that his ship had stopped at a small port.

* * *

Sokka, the object of their conversation, was not thinking anything of the sort. In fact, he was thinking more along the lines of how cozy his chambers were, how polite the servants were, and how kind Uncle Iroh was. Leave to go back to life on the run with Aang, eating, sleeping, and breathing in the 'great outdoors?' Ugh! Not on your life! Sokka didn't want to leave. Sure, Zuko was a jerk, but at least he was willing to let Sokka wear his clothes.

Over all, these Fire-nation people were shaping up to be much nicer than they were drawn up to be.

_How can I think that? I'm a captive, a bargaining chit to get the avatar, or at least Katara. I have to protect my sister!_

Sokka paused in his thoughts for a moment.

…_How am I supposed to do that? As it is, I've already fallen prey to the typical cliché of Sympathy for the Devil and whatnot. No wonder that's what happens to Katara in all those stupid stories – it's hard not to!_ (A/N: no offense meant.) _Stupid Fire-Bastard Prince. Wait…why did Iroh want the dress, anyway…? Shit! I bet he gave it to Zuko – Ew! That creep is probably smelling it, or whatever freaks like him do!_

As if the rude thoughts had conjured him, Zuko entered the cell. Eyeing Sokka's appearance in his clothes, he sat down on the edge of the bed.

_Ugh! _Thought Zuko, _This sucks! Not only is he not the person I meant to capture, he has the nerve to look better in my clothes than I do! What a Jerk!_ He scowled at Sokka.

"We've docked on a small earth-territory island. The Avatar and your sister are only an hour or so behind us, and will arrive shortly," Zuko said abruptly. "If you wish to compose yourself in any way, do so now; in half an hour, we will go to the village to stock up; _you_ are coming with us."

Sokka groaned. It was as he'd thought. _Bait. Why do I have to be the bait? Ooh, Katara's going to be so mad when she sees me in these clothes. That does it, I'm definitely never giving these back; they'll be a good disguise in the future, if nothing else._

He looked up to reply, but Zuko was already gone. Sokka entered the small washroom attached to the bed-chamber, brushed his short hair, straightened his borrowed clothing, and picked up his boomerang from the corner where it had been tossed.

_Idiot- assumed I was a water-bender, and thus had no other weapon – what kind of fool doesn't check a captive for weapons? Yeesh, talk about lax security._

In a moment, he was ready to go, the boomerang safely hidden under a long black cloak Uncle Iroh had provided him. Apparently, the temperature on this island was none too forgiving. Well, that was fine – Neither was Sokka. And he would _never_ forgive Zuko if something happened to his sister.

* * *

Well, it's not very long, and it's not very funny; I went to the funeral of my friend's dad today, so I'm a bit moody. Also, I felt like I'd made Katara too nasty, so I decided to attribute it to worry and move on. Sorry if it was a bit abrupt, but if she and Zuko are going to fall in love, there has to be _something_ good about them other than their looks! I hope you like it... 


	8. A Very Awkward Meal

Whew! I've been so busy, I didn't have time to update yesterday! I'm sorry! Here's another, I'll try to make it funny (I think I've said that every chapter...oh well!); Zuko and Katara interaction here! Yay!

* * *

As Zuko's party left the ship, there was a distinct atmosphere of smugness about them. They had one of the avatar's companions in their custody, the Avatar himself was on the way to collect him, and Zuko was in a good mood (hence, his men were in a good mood, as they weren't in constant fear of being toasted).

Sokka looked around. It was a _very_ small village, inhabited by fire-benders and a few earth-bender servants. They approached the town's sole teashop, entered, and sat themselves at a wide, short table. The restaurant's manager came to personally see to their needs, and Sokka was again overwhelmed by how well Fire-Nation people lived (and treated prisoners).

Zuko spoke. "We are expecting two more members of our party, a young boy with blue arrow tattoos and a water-nation girl. When they arrive, bring them straight here." Sokka opened his mouth to protest, but Uncle Iroh shot him a warning glance, and Sokka swallowed his words.

_He's right…if I protest, they'll know I'm not Fire. Plus, the way Zuko's got it set up, it sounds like they're guests – if I speak up, it'll warn these people that Aang and Katara are more than they seem. Hmm…_

Sadly for Sokka's thoughts, the dishes were brought out at that point, and Sokka's mind would not allow him to think about anything other than food, so he gave in to his hunger and ate.

* * *

Meanwhile, Katara and Aang had just landed next to Prince Zuko's ship. Dismounting from Appa, the pair made their way slowly towards the teashop, where they could see Prince Zuko's uncle drinking tea in the window.

"Okay, Katara – we go in, you snatch Sokka and get him back on Appa and get going, I'll cover your back and catch up later with my glider – Huh?" They were surrounded by the fire-nation villagers, all glad to be allowed to greet the Exiled Prince's guests; Katara and Aang were led straight into the shop to Zuko's table.

"Ah, Avatar – just in time, the food has only just arrived. You may sit with Sokka, and your lovely friend will sit over here with Zuko and me," Uncle Iroh quickly took control of the situation, organizing their seating arrangements so that Aang would not be able to fight his way out without abandoning Katara.

_What? They were expecting us? Why – oh look! They haveginseng__tea!_ And thus Aang ignored the possibility of a trap, falling prey to the siren call of good tea. Katara, on the other hand, was somewhat more wary, noting her seating position as being between the two most powerful fire-benders in the room.

_I can't escape, no way no how, even if I water whip one, the other will get me – and neither Sokka nor Aang is going to be of any use until they finish eating…Boys! Why do they always have to eat so much?_

Thoughts notwithstanding, though, the food _did_ smell good, and both Zuko and Iroh were applying themselves as heartilyto the dishes as everyone else, belying the possibility of drugs. So Katara shrugged and tucked in, not knowing when she would next see such fancy food.

Iroh watched her, subconsciously noting her body language – and his nephew's. Sure, it would be nice if they would capture the Avatar, but it would be nicer to have Zuko already engaged to a foreigner when he became Fire Lord, just to make foreign affairs a little easier. Doubtless, of course, Fire Lord Ozai would have a royal tantrum at the very idea of a match between a royal Fire-Prince and a water-bending peasant, but if they were already married with children by the time they got back to the Fire Nation, Ozai would not be able to break the marriage. Iroh sighed softly, and noted that Katara flinched away from him – only slightly, but it proved that she was alert where her brother and friend were completely oblivious.

_Good girl – keep yourself alive for as long as you can in this hard world._ Iroh continued to muse of this subject as Katara ate, her eyes roaming ceaselessly over the faces of the Fire Nation soldiers.

Zuko, too, was extremely alert, although he had long since learned to hide it. Of course, he rarely felt the need to hide it, so right now, although all his nerves were aching to go into spasms of nervous twitching, he remained perfectly still and calm outwardly, and everyone else thought he was simply in a good mood for once. Well, he was. Not only was he _finally_ being treated with the deference he deserved, he was sitting with Katara, and she herself was eating just as calmly as if she dined with the Heir to the Fire Throne everyday – which, happily, was exactly the air he wanted to show to the villagers; renegades or no, they would still attack her in an instant, if she looked as though she didn't belong.

_She looks so composed, she might have been raised in the Court right alongside Zula and me. Always uses the right utensil, doesn't put her elbows on the table, eats in small, neat bites, and is alert, but not obviously so! God, if she weren't such an insubordinate water-peasant, I'd marry her in an instant. I dunno if her brother's worth it though – he looks like he's going to eat until there's nothing left – would it be worth having him to be with her? She may be able to act nicely at the table when she has to, but she's still a peasant…_

As if she'd heard his thoughts, she turned slightly towards him and glared.

_Probably just letting me know that she doesn't trust me a bit. Well, she shouldn't; I'm here to kidnap either her or her best friend, so she'd be a fool to trust me – and I could never marry a fool._

Just then a thought hit him, smack dab in the forehead. _Why do I keep contemplating marrying the stupid peasant? If Father accepts me with the avatar, who's to say he won't throw me out on my ear again for associating with a peasant?_

Just the idea that he could harbor such a stupid idea made him pissed. He sat up a little straighter, his eyes narrowing at the food before him. His men flinched – he was mad again! Katara flinched too – just as Iroh was observing her body language, she was observing Zuko's – and he had tensed up suddenly, not as though he was preparing to grab her or kill someone, but as though some negative thought had popped into his mind. Whether or not he looked like he wasn't going to attack her, it was still a possibility. She cast her eyes furtively in Aang's direction – he had just about finished eating, and was nursing one last cup of tea, and even Sokka had slowed down. She decided to act. They couldn't afford to sit there any longer and wait for Zuko to strike them down where they sat.

"I thank you for your hospitality, Prince Zuko, General Iroh," she began, "But we really must be going." She waited for a reply from Zuko, but it never came, and as the awkwardsilence lengthened, Iroh spoke.

"So soon? Come, come, we have not yet had dessert, you must stay a while longer, and then we shall see you off properly." Why had she suddenly decided to leave? And why had Zuko said nothing? Iroh glanced at his nephew, and barely escaped snorting into his tea. Zuko sat, now slightly slumped, pushing chunks of meat around on his plate with a mulish expression on his face that was strongly reminiscent of a seven-year-old who has been told he was not allowed to leave the table until he ate his vegetables. No wonder she'd wanted to leave – what lady would want to remain when one's dinner partner acted like a child? Oh, it was alright for the Avatar to behave that way; mentally, he was a child. Zuko, on the other hand, was a seventeen-year-old Prince. No excuses for _him_.

Meanwhile, Katara had nodded her acquiescence; they would remain a while longer – but not happily. It was all too clear, now, that she wanted nothing more than to be gone. Iroh smiled. It was time to give her a reason to stay. He leaned over to whisper in her ear,

"Besides – Zuko is holding your dress in custody until your brother returns his clothes," he said softly, chuckling. She glanced at him, startled, and then to her brother, noting for the first time that he wore fire-nation garb. Her brow contracted momentarily, which worried Iroh – was she that averse to the Fire-Nation, that the sight of her brother in their clothing upset her? That could be bad, in the long run.

Finally, dessert arrived, and Sokka plowed through it, helped along by the soldiers. He and the soldiers got along very well indeed; both had rowdy, chauvinistic senses of humor and loved to eat. Katara was disgusted, Iroh amused – Zuko didn't notice. He did eat, though, so when the food on his plate was finally gone, he looked up. His face first mirrored Katara's disgust at the crew and Sokka's appetites, and then confusion – Katara looked tense and wary, and his uncle, under the laughter he was currently sharing with the Avatar, looked worried. Zuko raised an eyebrow, and called the dinner to a halt.

"Come," he said, "it is time for us to go." As one, the crew stood, without protest or even pausing long enough to take one more bite. Katara, impressed by their discipline, was all the more embarrassed by her brother's refusal to abandon the meal.

"Sokka! We're going. _Now_." Her command had no effect, so after glancing apologetically at Zuko, Iroh, and the Manager, she came up behind him and yanked cruelly on his ears. It was an old trick, and she employed it perfectly.

"Ouch! Ow, ow, ow, _ow_! Katara, what was _that_ for?" Sokka had the gumption to look insulted, as if she had done something wrong, not him.

"You are causing a scene and delaying our party – part_ies_. Let's go." This time, he stood without complaint, and walked out in front of her, followed by Iroh and Zuko's impressed stares, both only slightly worried by how she'd changed party to a plural form. Whether or not she wanted it, their 'parties' were now only one party. Zuko's men had been well briefed. As soon as Sokka, Katara, and Aang exited the teashop, the soldiers grabbed them, and carried them away.

* * *

Whew! That was a long chapter! Okay, it could have been shorter - or longer, if that's the way your cookie crumbles (lol!), but this seemed a good place to end it. I decided not to make them argue much - save that for when they're actually captives, not dinner guests. I happen to hate public humiliation, so I didn't want to subject it upon Zuko or Iroh. But anyway! R&R, contstructive critisism welcome!


	9. Zuko and Katara's Encounter

Okies! I'm back again. I'll try to make this funny (because I know the last one really wasn't despite my best intentions…) but in exchange it will be shorter. No, actually how funny it is has nothing to do with the length; I'm just on a time limit. But anyway. Here's the next chapter! Oh, and I'm starting with a flashback so that the story flows more. I might keep doing this; we'll see.

* * *

_**Zuko's men had been well briefed. As soon as Sokka, Katara, and Aang exited the teashop, the soldiers grabbed them, and carried them away.

* * *

Well, to be fair, it must be said that it was not a matter of simply picking them up and carrying them. Except for Sokka, who was glad for the soldiers' presence, as he was too full to walk anyway. Katara and Aang, on the other hand, struggled and fought to the best of their ability, as would be expected. As implied, however, it did no good, and there were soon three prisoners on board Zuko's ship, instead of one guest. Sokka retained his old room, but (to his eternal dismay, once he woke from his food induced stupor) had to share it with Aang. Katara got her own room, right between Zuko's and Iroh's for her own safety. Sokka, of course, doubted Zuko's motives on this, recalling how his room had been decorated in the beginning; but the guard of Sokka's room wouldn't let Sokka go check.**_

* * *

Sokka needn't have worried. Zuko himself had personally seen to the décor in Katara's room, rather than Iroh himself. The walls were hung with soft red tapestries of phoenixes and dragons, the bed a queen-sized affair clad in black satin. A plush black rug covered the iron floor, and even the lamps had been edited to emit a softer, brighter light. All in all, it was the most comfortable room an exiled fire-bender could possibly provide.

_And she had better appreciate it, too!_ Zuko thought, _after all the trouble I went through at the village to get those hangings…_

Still, no sounds were coming from her room, and her guard was entirely at ease. Either she had fallen asleep, or she was planning an escape. Zuko decided to check. Just in case.

He approached her room.

"Any trouble?" the guard shook his head.

"No, sir. She quieted right down as soon as we let her though the door." Zuko smiled; his decorating job must have made an impression. He dismissed the guard, thinking,

_Hmm…maybe a job as an interior designer wouldn't be a bad idea, if Father doesn't accept me…_Zuko mused as he pushed open the heavy iron door.

"Katara? Are you awake?" he called through the slit in the door.

"…Yes…who is it?" She sounded wary, but sleepy. Probably had been daydreaming, or dozing before he called.

"It's Prince Zuko. I'm coming in."

* * *

Back in Sokka's room, Aang was ranting loudly about stupid water-boys who were too busy eating to notice that Zuko was planning to capture them, and how Zuko was probably torturing Katara for information this very instant, and how it was all Sokka's fault, etc., etc. Sokka had fallen asleep when Aang first started complaining, correctly judging that it was not an important conversation. Now he sat up, blinking from his shot-gun nap, momentarily surprised that Aang was still ranting.

"Shut up a minute, ok? How are we supposed to tell if he's torturing her if we can't hear over your racket?" Aang paused. Sokka had a point. If she was being tortured, she'd probably be screaming, right? His brow creased in confusion – he'd never seen or heard torture before, so he had no idea.

Sokka picked up a fancy glass cup that had been left on a tray with a small jug of ice water. He held it up against the wall closest to him and listened, before moving to the other side of the room and repeating the process.

"Well, she's not to either side of us, those are just crewmen. Do you know how big the ship is? I was never allowed out of my room, and I never really tried to tell how many stories there were from the outside."

Aang thought for a moment, marveling at how good Sokka could be with strategy when he put his mind to it.

"Hmm…there should be at least one more floor than the one we're on – listen out the side to see if we're under water," Sokka nodded, seeing the logic in this, and obeyed.

"Water," he replied, "and a lot of it. We're probably about fifteen feet below the surface."

Aang frowned; no chance of escaping that way. Not that there would have been; their captor was a paranoid psycho prince; why would he give them an easy escape route?

Sokka, meanwhile, listened through the floor, and shook his head.

"A store room, or empty hull space. No one's there."

He tried the ceiling with similar result. It was just a cabin, some room or another with a male inhabitant…

"It's not her room, Aang…I'm sorry –" Sokka paused in the act of pulling away, and put his cup back against the ceiling. Someone had just entered the room, and was pacing. Indistinct mutters of annoyance could be heard, growing louder, until Sokka heard, "_Stupid_ water peasant, _stupid_ bending abilities, and **_stupid_** crewmen for _giving that_ – " Sokka gasped in indignation "- _water_! If she's a water bender, you don't go an _give her her primary weapon out of courtesy!_"

The snarls continued, and the ceiling above Sokka heated up as Zuko began to fire-bend to calm himself down.

Sokka jumped down off the bed, smiling.

"Aang, Zuko's room is right above us! He went and talked to Katara, but – get this! Some of his men gave her water to drink, so what do you think she did with it! Water-whipped him across the face! Haha! That's my baby sister, alright!" Sokka and Aang laughed, their good spirits renewed by Katara's valor. Sokka was also happy because his sister was not just standing up to Zuko, she was resisting him. He still didn't know what had happened to her dress, but he doubted that Iroh had burned it, or kept it.

* * *

Now, hopefully, all you readers won't mind my backtracking a bit to show Zuko's fateful encounter with Katara. Because here it is.

* * *

"It's Prince Zuko. I'm coming in." Katara's wide sapphire eyes got a little wider. She ducked under the covers of the bed as the prince entered, hiding the fact that she'd neglected to get dressed after a quick wash-up; she had just laid down on the oh-so-comfy bed. Now the Prince was coming in, and she was by no means decent! She started to shriek, then remembered that he _had_ warned her, and that it was her fault for not stopping him. Thus, all that came out of her mouth was a tiny squeak of dismay as he closed the door behind him with a _click_.

Zuko turned around to face her – and didn't see her.

"Wha – " Oh, wait. There she was, in bed, mostly hidden by the blankets. Trying to hide? Well, that would never do! It wasn't working anyway. "Come on girl, I see you. Get out of bed! I need to talk to you about the Avatar and I don't have all day."

His only answer was a resolute shake of her head, sending her two long bangs flapping.

"Oh, come _on_. I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm not here to torture the information out of you; I just want to know more about the kid I'm chasing!"

Katara was panicking. There was a Prince in her room, trying to talk to her, and here she was, lying naked in bed, and he thought she was just afraid to leave the 'safety' of the covers! She blushed, shaking her head harder. Unfortunately, he mistook her blush for a flush of anger (_And why shouldn't he?_ Her mind whispered, _after all, how is he supposed to know you're naked if you don't **say** anything?_), and got mad.

* * *

Zuko was getting annoyed. He went through all the trouble to furnish her room, and then she wouldn't even answer some simple questions! She wouldn't even get out of bed or _say_ anything! _I mean, it's a comfy bed, but there's a limit!_

"Look, girl, this is your last chance! Get out of bed so I can talk to you properly, or else!"

Katara was now in an even worse dilemma, if that was even possible. Get up and risk embarrassment but avoid punishment, or stay where she was and be punished – somehow. Hmm. Katara stayed put. _I mean, what's he gonna do? Toast me?_

Zuko sighed in exasperation, a small lick of flame flickering between his teeth, and advanced on her. She watched him, eyes wide with terror as she realized his intention. He felt guilty, but it wasn't like he was going to hurt her, just get her up. He reached out, and before she could stop him, he snatched the blankets away from her and ripped them from the bed. He paused, seeing her sit up suddenly, clutching the sheet around her, her back toward him, and then he stumbled back, clutching his cheek in agony. _Ouch! What the - _

_

* * *

_

Katara could not have imagined a worse scene, but she couldn't just sit there and let him expose her nudity. As soon as he began grabbing the blankets, she had sat up and pulled some water out of a nearby bowl, and without hesitation (though with a lot of guilt), water whipped him in the face, quickly standing up to take advantage of his pain to grab for her clothes. He stumbled back, holding his cheek, but soon straightened up, glaring at her – he recovered too fast for her, and she was only in her underwear when he stood. He stared, a blush making his pale face look almost cute._ Oh, no…oh no, no no, I did NOT just think that…He's the enemy! E – N – E – M – Y!_

As much as she would have liked to continue thinking about that, she had a Prince to get rid of temporarily. He looked annoyed, embarrassed, and, well, amazed.

_Oh, come on! Is it that far-fetched an idea that I have a nice body?_ Now she was annoyed too, instead of just embarrassed, but still she controlled herself. Barely. Now it was an effort.

* * *

_Augh! Stupid water-peasant! If she didn't want me to see her then why didn't she just ask me to step outside for a moment? She didn't need to whip me!_

"I apologize, Prince Zuko," she said, her voice displaying a tiny bit of strain, no evidence that she was as embarrassed as he, "But I will have to ask you to come back some other time." Then her control broke. He could see it, as she lost anything but an urge to get rid of him. _That's not all I can see, either…_he mused, admiring her figure and temporarily forgetting her anger. Then he remembered. He looked up in time to see her inhale, preparing to shout, and fled.

"_Get out! Pervert!_" He was already gone.

In the room over, Iroh listened to her shrieks of rage, as his nephew beat a hasty retreat. He turned away from the wall, and cheerfully prepared himself a glass of tea, laughing as he worked.

* * *

Yay! Another long-ish chapter. I hope you liked it! I tried to think of the most embarrassing thing that could happen to Katara on a ship, and that's all I could think of…maybe tomorrow's will be funnier(see, the long ones aren't funny! Augh!). Review...please...I love you all and I love this story, but my self-esteem is failing me...If I don't get reviews, how am I supposed to know you all like it? If you don't, that's good too! Let me know! Seriously! 


	10. The Tale of the Avatar

Well…Still no reviews…I know the story's gone downhill, but I'm gonna keep writing on the off chance that it'll improve…But any comments at all would be better than nothing…please, please review, flame, criticize, I don't care, just give me some feedback, ok? Thanks. Oh and I forgot to put this for all my old chapters, but I don't own A:tLA. Sorry!

* * *

Zuko cautiously approached Katara's door. The ranting screams had long since stopped, as had the pacing (he'd checked). Still, he was nervous about going back in – that water whip hurt! Seriously!

He tapped quietly on the door.

"Miss Katara? Are you awake and, ah, decent?"

Silence. Then, "…Yes, I am Prince Zuko. You may come in."

_Geez, she's acting like she's the heir to the throne, and I'm just a servant! Well, I can't blame her; she's a captive, and she's just been embarrassed past the point of reason…even if it was her fault. Good view, though._

He scowled, then, mentally kicking himself for even thinking such a thing, even as he entered her room. He pushed open the door and slipped through the gap, and entered his prisoner's chambers. She was sitting there, back perfectly straight, on the edge of her bed, clad in the fire-nation garments he had left for her use. As it had with her brother, it complemented her dark skin, making her glow like amber in the sun. He stared, just for a moment, before sitting down across the room from her. An awkward silence loomed, and the words to prevent it wouldn't come.

"…"

"…"

"So, Miss Katara…that is…do you remember my original intentions last time I came in?"

_Great, good idea, remind her of what made her mad only half an hour ago…brilliant._

Again, there was a moment of silence before she replied, her brow creased as though she were fighting a war in her brain. As it happened, she was.

* * *

(A/n: Whoo! POV switch!)

_Give him a break, Katara! He's only trying to find a way to start the conversation!_

_So? I don't **want**__to have this conversation!_

_Answer him anyway! You are his prisoner, whether you like it or not, and if you don't answer, he is entitled to punish you however he sees fit! Is that really what you want?_

…_No…Fine. I'll answer, but only 'cuz I feel like it._

"…Yes, I remember. You wanted to know about Aang."

* * *

(A/n: Switch back to Zuko)

"…Aang?" Zuko frowned in confusion. Where had he heard 'Aang' before…?

"Oh, the Avatar? That's the Avatar's real name?"

She laughed at his confusion, but it was a laugh of true amusement, not derision.

"Yes, that's his name. So, what all did you want to know?"

"Um…you can start at the beginning…? I guess…? How did you meet him?"

_Oops…I guess this story will be more about her than him…Oh well._

She smiled again at his hesitation, and started her narrative.

"My brother and I found him, frozen in an iceberg, about a year ago…"

* * *

Sokka and Aang, meanwhile, were sitting bored in their room. It was a nice room, with nice food provided, but there was still nothing to do. The novelty of listening to Zuko's empty room had worn off, and they were _bored_.

Fortunately, Iroh arrived at that moment, just in time to alleviate their boredom. Not that that was his true reason for coming, but at that point, his plans were no longer important.

"Uncle Iroooh! I'm bored, is there anything to do on this ship?" Aang whined. Iroh winced at the childish tone of his voice.

"Yeah, Iroh, what can we do?" Sokka agreed, "The cell is great, but I could use a breather from all this confinement."

Iroh sighed, considering his options. True, Zuko had warned him never to let the prisoners leave their room; but on the other hand, Zuko was busy 'interrogating' Katara, so he would never know – and these two kids wouldn't leave him alone until they were let out…

"Weeeelll….You could spar with some of the crew…maybe? Maybe even with Zuko, when he's finished with Katara…"

"_When he's_ **_what_**?" Both Sokka and Aang shouted. Iroh put his hands up in a defensive gesture.

"Not like you're thinking – although if you're thinking it too, there must be some truth in the rumor about them – ahem! Anyway, he's just interrogating her. Nothing more, nothing less, so don't worry." Iroh smirked. Everyone thought his nephew and Katara were going out, or at least courting. His face fell. Too bad everyone was _wrong_! What was the matter with them? Hormonal deficiency?

Meanwhile, he led Sokka and Aang out onto the deck of the ship. They were far from land, with Appa resting comfortably below deck in an old Komodo-Rhino pen, so there was no chance of escape, and they knew it.

"Well…" Iroh began, rubbing his hands together cheerfully, "Who wants to spar with whom?"

* * *

"And then we ran into Jet," Katara said, her brows furrowing in old anger, "that two-faced murdering scum! He was going to kill an entire valley of earth village peasants, just to get rid of a small platoon on Fire-Benders! A whole _valley_!" She was seething now, not even seeing Zuko (or his nervousness – if she wasn't seeing anything but Jet, who knew what she would do?). Then she calmed herself down, and continued, "But Sokka found out his plans, and was able to warn the villagers while I took out Jet,"

She smiled grimly at the memory.

"What did you do to him?" Zuko asked tentatively.

"Oh, him? I froze him to a tree. He's not a bender, either, so I imagine it took him awhile to get free." Her smile broadened and Zuko scooted as far back in his chair as he could. She was starting to remind him of his sister – _major_ turn off there! He gradually relaxed as she continued the story of the Avatar, laughing at the memories of his occasional attacks on their party, relating anecdotes like gossipy old women.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sokka was paired off against a non-bending crewman in a martial arts duel, as Iroh cautiously taught Aang to Fire-bend.

"Remember; Fire cannot survive without air, but too much air will put the fire out. Take a deep breath, and concentrate…imagine a ball of flame above your hand, and – "

_Fwoom!_

A column of flame sprouted from Aang's upraised hand. Iroh paused, drops of sweat breaking out on his forehead.

"Well, it's a good start, better than most, but you must learn control. Fire is the most dangerous and willful all the elements. Concentrate on a _small ball_ of flame, not a column, not flame in general," Iroh demonstrated, conjuring a tiny sphere of flame floating an inch or so above his hand. "See?"

Aang stared for a moment, and then closed his eyes. His tongue poked out from between his lips as he focused with all his might.

There, in the air above his hand, hovered a globe of flame, identical to Iroh's in all that is was a brilliant blue, the second hottest color of flames. Iroh's eyes widened. True, this boy had mastered all of the other elements, and true, he was the avatar, but to conjure blue flame on his first controlled attempt was unheard of!

"Very good! Well done, Aang. Now before you proceed any further with the actual flame, we need to get Zuko out here to teach you the moves that go with it!" Iroh was still sweating. Such power, in so young a boy, was dangerous. There was a _reason_ for that proverb about playing with fire, and this child was the most playful twelve-year-old Iroh had ever seen. If ever he lost control, the effects would be cataclysmic. And Aang had no idea.

* * *

"And then you captured us, the most recent time," Katara finished. The story of how she and the Avatar came to be traveling together had ended, and Zuko shook his head in amazement. So many _weird_ people existed in this world, no wonder his father had dedicated his life to killing as many of them as he could. Not that Zuko thought it was a good idea, but he understood where his dad was coming from.

_I mean, hippies? Where did the hippies come from, or the Gliders, or that herbalist lady! None of them are in the least bit normal – how could she **stand** them? They're like a walking, talking freak show!_

Not that Zuko could talk. _I'm a freak too; I guess…I just happen to be insane in a different way – trauma induced, not inherent…_

Finally Zuko stood up, and Katara twitched. She had clearly forgotten he was there, and when she noticed that he was leaving, she politely stood to walk him to the door and say good-night (for while they were talking, the sun had set, forcing Zuko to light one of the lamps).

"I'll come back tomorrow, if that's alright with you," he said, "It was a cool story, but there wasn't all that much information about Aang himself, just what he's done. Which is interesting, don't get me wrong, but not what I need to know. So, if you don't mind, I'll be imposing upon you're hospitality once again." With that, he left the room.

_Hah! Imposing upon HER hospitality, what a joke – this is MY ship, so why do I have to treat my prisoner with such politeness?_ As usual, he answered himself, and didn't like the answer.

_Because you like being on good terms with her, and you need the information,_ his conscience informed him,_ and you think she's hot, and want more time to ogle her while she gets caught up in explanations!_

Zuko growled. Not what he wanted to hear. Stupid conscience.

* * *

Ugh! It still wasn't funny! And still no reviews, either. Going on Hiatus over Easter Break, starting Thursday Night; if I have no more reviews by then, I'm calling it quits. I'm sorry, but there's no point in writing if there's no audience and I don't like what I'm writing. I mean, yeah, I like the story itself well enough, but it's not funny, and it's supposed to be, which really annoys me. So, please review and give me a reason to keep writing so I can improve it…Please? 


	11. A Dream and Underestimations

Wow, it's been a while – sorry about that! Here goes chapter 11. Hope you like!

* * *

Sokka whirled, ducked, and hurled his boomerang in one fluid movement. A fireball passed over his head, nearly consuming him, but he dodged at the last minute. He glanced about him, assessing his attackers – he was surrounded by soldiers. Aang and Katara, behind him, were long since out of the fight, unable to keep on their feet. Sokka sprang to the right, narrowly avoiding a bolt of fire from his left. He watched then, triumph in his eyes as his boomerang flew through the air towards him and connected solidly with the Fire soldiers head. 

_One down – three to go…_

They spread out to form a triangular formation around him, simultaneously shooting great blasts of flame at him. He dropped to the ground and then rolled towards the closest soldier, kicking his legs out from under him and knocking him out.

_Two more…_

Now the remaining soldiers spread apart again, one on either side of him.

_Which…which should I take out next…?_

The blasted fire at him again. He jumped to the side, swinging back around to examine both blasts.

_There! The one on my left's blast was much weaker. He's next._

Sokka leapt forwards, turning his lunge into a forward somersault at the last minute to avoid yet another burst of flame. He came to his feet in one smooth motion, and kicked the man ruthlessly in the stomach, and hit him again in the head when his victim doubled up. Then he was on the move again, avoiding bolt after bolt of flame in quick succession.

_One left._

He narrowed his eyes, aiming a calculating glare at his opponent and he began an intricate dance of evasion and attack, twisting to the side and then swinging out with his sword. He ducked, and sprang closer yet to the Soldier, his muscles tense with exhilaration. This was it, the final round…

But then the soldier did the unexpected and lunged toward, not Sokka, but his two incapacitated comrades, flame growing around his outstretched palms.

_Crap! Why that dirty, cheating – _

He followed the man's lunge, bringing himself into range, but then rolled smoothly to the side, throwing his boomerang again with all his strength. It missed completely, and the man laughed triumphantly and charged forward. Sokka backed up a step, and charged suddenly. The man backed up in turn, bringing himself out of Sokka's range –

- And into the range of Sokka's returning boomerang. It hit him square on the back of his head, bringing him to his knees and his dented helmet fell away. Prince Zuko knelt there before Sokka, helpless and at Sokka's mercy. Sokka smiled and walked towards him.

"…Sokka…!" The voice was distant, but distinct. Aang? It sounded like Aang…

Sokka paused momentarily, but kept walking, intent on his fallen opponent.

"Sokka!" the voice was much louder this time. It _was_ Aang, no doubt, but the Aang lying behind Zuko hadn't moved…what was going on?

"_Sokka, you twit! Get up!_" That was Katara. And she was angry. Sokka groaned and rolled over.

"Whatcha want, Katara…?" still groggy from sleep, Sokka sat up.

_Why is it that whenever I'm about to beat Zuko at last, someone stops me, or wakes me up? **Why? **__It's always Aang's voice first, and then Katara's. Weird…I wish Aunt Wu or someone was here so I could ask if this has a deeper meaning, or if that's just who wakes me up…_

"Sokka…geez, you're such an idiot! It's time for _lunch_! You missed breakfast. Zuko and Iroh were very insulted when you didn't show up!"

_Oops._

"Eheh…Katara, you know punctuality isn't my strong point. Why'd you have to go and wake me up? I was having a great dream, and I was about to kill Zuko –"

"Hah – proves that it was a dream, then," drawled a voice from the door, thick with scorn. "You could never beat me."

Zuko stood there, leaning against the doorframe, armed crossed, looking completely at ease. Katara blushed a bit, which Sokka – unlike Zuko – fortunately failed to notice.

"_Hey!_ What is that Fire-Bastard doing in my room, Katara? Did he come in with you!" Sokka was furious. Not only did the stupid Prince invade his privacy, but he insulted Sokka's prowess as a warrior! How rude!

"Uncle sent me to see if you had decided to skip lunch too, and rope Katara into it too. He was afraid you were going on a hunger strike – it was the only reason he could come up with for someone like you to skip two meals in a row."

_Fire-Bastard? Interesting Name_, thought Zuko,_ Not particularly creative, though._

"Hunger strike? No way! And what did you mean, 'a person like me'?"

"Obviously, I meant an idiotic, immature adolescent with a bottomless pit for a stomach."

Sokka flushed, knowing that most of Zuko's barb was too accurate for any retort.

"Ok, ok, so I eat a lot!"

Now Katara joined the fun – Sokka bashing was her favorite sport!

"A _lot_? Understatement of the century!" She and Zuko laughed, enjoying Sokka's inability to think of a comeback.

"Whatever! Would you two _stop_? I'm not going on hunger strike, I slept in. Now can we go get lunch before your Uncle decides we've all been killed or something?"

Zuko sobered immediately. Sokka was right, of course; they should get back to Uncle before he started to suspect anything. Not that there was anything to suspect, but Uncle was prone to jumping to conclusions…which Zuko would prefer to prevent.

"Alright, come on you two. Let's go eat."

Sure enough, Iroh was waiting for them. He looked mildly surprised when Sokka entered directly behind Zuko, as if he hadn't been expecting him to be there...or was it something else? Zuko just sighed and ignored his uncle's quizzical looks, and sat down to eat.

* * *

"Prince Zuko, do you have a moment? I would like to talk to you about the information you've gathered about the Avatar." 

Uncle Iroh had cornered Zuko after dinner, leaving him no way to escape the ensuing conversation. Oh, sure, the subject _sounded_ innocent, but Zuko just _knew_ his uncle was trying to con him into admitting something about Katara.

_Stupid old man…obsessed with creating some great scandalous romance between that Water-Bender and me…it'll never work, because it will never happen. Ever._

Still, as he had no way out of the impromptu meeting with Iroh, he might as well get it over with.

"Uncle, I don't know what you're thinking – or what you've been putting in your tea recently – but there is _nothing_ between me and Katara! Do you understand?"

Iroh looked surprised. He had planned on getting Zuko to tell him what the water-bender girl had told him. For once in his career as Zuko's caretaker, there had been no ulterior motive in talking to Zuko…but it was nice to have Zuko basically admit it anyway.

"Hmm…methinks the lady doth protest overmuch! I wasn't going to ask anyway," Iroh commented, grinning merrily at his nephew's shock. (A/n: Yes, Shakespeare, and yes, I probably misquoted it…sorry, if I did.) "In any case, I really do want to know what you found out, so if we can stop talking about your Katara for once, we can get to business."

Zuko was shocked. The one time he'd decided to try to throw his uncle off guard, his uncle had turned around and, completely without trying, gotten Zuko to make it seem like there _was_ something between him and Katara!

_How does he **do** these things! Whatever, time to change the subject…_

"Oh…alright then…Basically all I got last night was the story of all their travels and whatever, nothing specific about the Avatar. I did get some on his fighting style – he's mastered all the elements except for fire, so while he has all the strengths of the other benders, he also has all the weaknesses, rolled into one. For example, he pauses for just a moment after an earth attack to assess whether it worked or not…"

The discussion turned away to safer conversation about the Avatar, rather than his dangerously bewitching companion and her brother.

_Dangerously bewitching! Where did **that**__come from? Great Agni…he is **never** going to let me live this down…assuming I live to go home anyway…

* * *

Hmm, a bit more serious towards the end, but at least it was pretty long. I hope you guys like it…I'm writing this at school, and I have bad allergies, which might explain the whole fight-dream at the beginning…I feel like killing someone. But never mind that, please read and review! Thanks! _


	12. Training & Deliberate Misinterpretations

Okay, well….I know I said I wouldn't write anymore…But I've been watching a lot of the Avatar episodes, old and new, on YouTube, and I felt like writing something…I hope you don't mind…assuming anyone reads this as it is…Oh well, if you do, Enjoy!

* * *

Katara sighed happily. One thing she had to give to these Fire Nation people…they sure knew how to cook! She hadn't eaten so well in ages!

_Actually, truth be told, I've **never** eaten this well on a regular basis. I mean, back home, I ate more regularly, at least, but never food like this…this is awesome!_

Maybe being Zuko's prisoner wasn't so bad after all.

_Speaking of Zuko, didn't he say he'd be coming back for another "interrogation"?_

As if on cue…

Katara stared at the door. She'd given the whole "as if on cue" opener, so _why_ hadn't Zuko entered? Where was he, anyway!

As it happened, Zuko was busy, and not in the mood for "interrogations".

* * *

"No! Wrong! Do it again…correctly!"

Aang snarled, not liking the harshness of the order. Who did the man think he was ordering around, anyway? He was the Avatar, for chris'sakes! Nevertheless, he tried again, lashing out in one direction with a kick and then following it (correctly, this time) with a forward somersault, coming to his feet again with both fists in the air in front of him in a punching gesture.

"Good. Now, if Prince Zuko will step in, you will learn to repeat it perfectly, but in combination with the fire to accompany the strikes. Prince?"

The ship's Lieutenant looked in Prince Zuko's direction, handing over Aang's tutelage in fire bending. Iroh had asked the man to take over, so that Aang could learn the physical motions without taxing Zuko's short temper.

"Very well. Thank you Lieutenant – carry on." The man bowed and walked away, and Zuko stepped forward to take his place.

"Uncle taught you to conjure the fire itself yesterday, did he not?" Although he didn't intend for it to happen, much less notice that it did, scorn and doubt crept into Zuko's voice, making it sound as though he did not believe Aang capable of fire bending.

Aang kept his eyes on the cold, metal deck of the ship as he answered, "He did."

"Show me. Before you can combine the physical motion with the bending, you must be able to summon and sustain the flame indefinitely."

Aang, disliking the Prince's "attitude", raised his head sharply, sticking his hand out, palm first, before him. He concentrated, his brows knitting fiercely. As Zuko, Sokka, and Iroh looked on, a small flame, controlled and glowing a hot reddish orange shade, bloomed in his fist.

"Good." Zuko meant it. Truly.

It still didn't sound convincing, though, so Aang got mad.

"Look, I did it, alright? I can conjure the stupid fire, I can keep it while I wave my hands all over the place or I can get rid of it! See? Look! I know how to do this!"

Zuko stared at him, one brow raised, looking totally clueless and innocent (if that's possible).

"Well, duh... I can see that."

Aang deadpanned. Never, ever, in all of his encounters with the sour Prince, had he heard him sound so much like the teenager he was.

"Oh. Uh, ok, then…"

Zuko gave him a look that said, "Wow, you're weird," and continued with the lesson. Meanwhile, Katara, peeved at Zuko's failure to appear at her cue, came to investigate. What she saw when she arrived was Aang staring at Zuko like he'd never seen him before, and Zuko waxing eloquent on the subject of how to properly project flames.

"It's one thing to have the ability to conjure and hold the flame, and an entirely different one to be able to bend it to where you want it to go. Did Uncle teach you how to do that yet?"

Aang shook his head dumbly.

"Very well then; here, look – hey! Pay attention, Avatar! I'm not talking for my health, you know!"

Aang (and Sokka, too, this time) facefaulted.

"Woah…he switched age groups, like, five different times! First he sounded like he was in his twenties, and then he was a teenager, and just now he was a little old school teacher…"

Zuko blinked. First Aang wasn't paying attention, and now he was babbling about how someone…changed ages? What the hell was the boy talking about! Since merely wondering this didn't give him any answers, Zuko decided to ask directly.

"…What are you talking about! Pay attention already! You need to learn this!"

Katara smothered a laugh behind her hand and went and stood by Uncle Iroh.

"How long have they been arguing like this? They're like brothers!" she giggled. He joined in her laughter, but raised a subtle eyebrow at Zuko, who wasn't acting as aloof as he usually did. Not only was he not _cooking_ the Avatar, he was (sort of) bantering with him! Zuko just didn't _do_ that kind of thing…at least, he hadn't that Iroh remembered. Oh well, it's not like it was a change for the worse.

The boys finally sobered up a bit, and Zuko demonstrated how to shoot flame out in controlled burst from his fists, explaining step by step how it was done. Aang tried, failed, and succeeded on the second try. Zuko looked faintly shocked, but moved on without commenting.

Katara continued to watch, her head cocked slightly to one side.

_They really are like brothers…_she thought vaguely, _when did that happen? I'll ask him about it later…_

And just like that, it was later! Finally, one of Katara's cue's pays off!

* * *

Zuko had finished training Aang for the day; he'd run him through the exercise seven times in a row, with the flame, flawlessly. Having judged this enough for one day, Iroh halted the practice, and he and Sokka helped an exhausted Aang off to his room to rest. Zuko, still sweating from the training, turned to Katara.

"Are you still ok with talking about Aang? I mean, is now a good time?" he inquired.

Katara blinked, once, twice, admiring his trim form, outlined by his shirt sticking to him from the sweat. Then she noticed that she hadn't answered, and replied, "Oh! Yes, it's fine! Um…my room, or…"

"Oh…actually, unless you'd rather wait a while, is my room alright? I need to change, but your room is right next to the boiler room, so…"

She saw his point immediately, of course; he had to change his shirt no matter what, but if he changed and then went to her room, he'd just end up sweating through another shirt. Still, it was a little awkward.

"Er…no, your room is fine…"

"Glad as I am that you two are even considering this, I feel the need to point out that it isn't really wise, planning one's trysts out where any of the crew could hear you…"

"…."

"…._Uncle_…."

It was just as well that Zuko hadn't changed immediately; it seemed he was fated to get more exercise that night, in mad pursuit of his aggravating uncle. As for Katara, she couldn't move, much less talk, for blushing, so she stayed put to wait for Zuko to come back, privately hoping that Zuko would bring Iroh's head as a trophy when he came back

* * *

Haha…I know, I know…it wasn't funny at _all_…I tried, I really did! Oh well, I hope you like it…it _has_ been a while, so I had trouble getting back into the swing of things, but here it is. I hope that, in the case that someone reads it, that they found it enjoyable. Ci vediamo…(no, I don't speak Italian, so forgive me if that doesn't mean what I think it means.) 


	13. A Fateful Encounter With Laundry

Well….I'm gonna keep writing this for a while, I guess…I apologize to any and all readers for my ADHD writing style…I can't really sit still and keep one story going for any long period of time…I get bored, I leave, and I come back later. But for now, I'm back, so I'll see how far I can get. I mean, last time I got…what, eleven chapters? So, here's chapter 13. Enjoy! Oh yeah, warning for minor adult content, situations, hints, whatever. That's what happens when I make long chapters, I guess. So if that's ok with you, slash, if you're above 12 ish, read away!

* * *

Zuko returned to Katara's side, panting and sweating with exertion. For an old man, his uncle was pretty fast!

"Eh…I'm sorry about Uncle, Katara…I mean, what he said, that is…" Zuko fumbled for the words to apologize for his uncle's perverted sense of humor, scratching the back of his head in frustration and confusion. Katara merely stared, once again shocked by such an unprecedented display of humanity from the dour prince.

"It's…it's fine, it was just a joke, so…"

_Think, Katara! Say something! Change the subject –_

"Well…uh…you wanted to talk to me about Aang, right? And we were going to your room, so…um…let's go!"

_- Into something meaningful and not at all perverted. Idiot!_

Zuko raised an eyebrow. She looked angry, but it all seemed directed inward at herself.

_Odd…she's not mad at me – but at herself? Why? I'd understand if it were about Uncle still, but she hasn't done anything..._

Instead of further pondering that, he nodded in response to her comment and led the way to his suite.

For, in fact, a suite it was. Zuko, being the Prince, had a complex of rooms, connected by a door or a small hallway. The first was an entrance chamber, where formal guests were kept for conferences. The next was a small, private sitting room, with a low table and a meditation bench to one side, followed by his bedroom (Katara glanced curiously at it, but couldn't see anything), and a bathing chamber off of the sitting room.

"Wow…nice place you got here!" Katara, lowering herself onto one of the cushions by the table, could have slapped herself for such a peasant-like comment.

"I mean…um…well, what do you want to know first?" For once, she'd changed the subject successfully; diverting his attention away from her earlier, and quite graceless, comment. Zuko sat catty-corner to her, pondering his first question.

"Oh…um…well, how far has he gotten on his bending? I know he's a master of Air, and he's obviously not a master of Fire, but what of Water and Earth?"

"Well, I'm his water bending teacher, and I'd have to say he's basically mastered it…I can still beat him, of course – I've had more practice – but he's very good. As for earth, we had a teacher for a while there, but she went on a sort of…well, pilgrimage, I suppose, to one of the ancient Earth Temples. She's supposed to be back in…Oh, I don't know…a month, or so. Anyway, Aang hasn't really got the Earth discipline down yet; too flighty, or something. He can do a couple basic moves, and then he loses control."

Zuko started at that. Before, he'd just been listening, one part of his brain absorbing the information, the other half enjoying the lilting, soothing rhythm of her voice…but, 'loses control'?

"Wait. What do you mean, exactly, when you say, 'lose control'? Does his power go completely haywire, or…"

"Oh! Sorry, I should have been clearer. No, he just loses the ability to Earth Bend. To earth bend, you see, he has to have an iron will, be totally unshakable, and stand his ground in all things; Aang's just not like that; so when he loses control, it's like the rocks refuse to listen to him…or at least, that's how Toph, his teacher, explained it to me."

"Oh." Zuko couldn't think of anything else to say to that. Rocks refusing to listen? Weird! He racked his brain for some other question he could ask that would have a long, complicated answer. Ahah! That would work.

"In some of the old legends of the Avatar – as well as in my experiences with him, on occasion – I've heard about and seen the Avatar State…but what exactly is it? Does it happen often?"

Katara's face darkened a bit. She did _not_ like to think about the Avatar State. Still, it was a good question…

"Well…when Aang is in mortal peril, or under extreme emotional stress – for example, when Appa was stolen by some desert thugs – he goes into the Avatar State. Basically, as Avatar Roku explained it for him, that means that he's opened his body as a channel for one of the previous Avatars to work through his body, or, on the other hand, that he's unleashing extreme amounts of power in order to do something. But…" and she lowered her voice, just in case someone might be listening, "if he were to be killed while in the Avatar State, the cycle would end; there would be no new Avatar. That's why we don't like him using it."

Again, Zuko was surprised. There were so many odd quirks in life. When the kid's arrows glowed white, it meant there was another Avatar from the past working through him? Whoa.

"When he's got one of his past lives working through him…do you always know which it is? I mean, does he take on their appearance, or do they just do the job and leave?"

"Hmm…it depends. Avatar Roku and Avatar Kyoshi both used his body, but their own shape, but all of the other times, it was like his body was being used, by some unseen force…I've only seen him change into the other Avatar those two times I mentioned. You were there, actually, for one of them – at that Fire Temple? That was Avatar Roku. The other time, we were on some Earth Nation coastal city, and they were holding an Anti-Avatar festival, because they blamed Avatar Kyoshi for the death of some great General or another. So they put Aang up for trial, but since it was a past life, not him, Aang had no idea what had happened. We borrowed Avatar Kyoshi's old clothes and dressed him up in them, and after a few minutes, Kyoshi herself came through and told everyone what happened – she was one intimidating lady!" Katara paused, noticing that she'd spoken for a whole paragraph.

"Sorry – I hope that helps…" Zuko, still listening to her voice, sighed as she stopped talking and stood up.

"Sorry, could you give me a moment? I still need to change shirts, so…Oh, by the way, isn't the Avatar supposed to be a connection to the Spirit world? Has he ever done anything with that?" He got up and headed for his bedroom, gesturing for her to follow as she opened her mouth to answer his question.

* * *

His bedroom, decorated in the typical fire nation colors, was utterly sparse in comparison to the sitting room. Katara raised her eyebrows. After all the nice furniture in the lounge, not to mention in her own room, she'd figured that the Prince could have spared himself more than a standard issue army-style cot.

_Oh well_, she told herself, _he's probably trying to impose self-control or something…I mean, look at the size of the cot! He'd never manage to fit more than one person on that…_

Again, she flushed in reaction to her own thoughts.

_How could I even consider that? His…ugh, his sex life is none of my business! The cot is probably just another training exercise the spiritual art called "doing without." _

_

* * *

_

Zuko, meanwhile, was rummaging through his wardrobe, looking for a clean, suitable shirt.

_Great Agni, why on earth don't I have any normal shirts? All that I have left are those weird courting things. Where did all of my training and casual shirts go!_

He turned to eye his laundry basket suspiciously. Yep, that was it – it was totally full. He sighed, and turned back to the wardrobe, cautiously selecting one of the plainer courting shirts. He pulled off the shirt he was currently wearing – _Yeesh, how on earth did I manage to work up such a sweat just from training the Avatar and chasing uncle!_ – and pulled on the new one.

_Well, seeing as she's from a small, secluded water tribe, she probably won't know the difference from this and a normal shirt…although it would have been nice if whoever designed this hadn't felt that skin was meant to be shown off… _

_

* * *

_

Katara, sitting on the bed and pondering his most recent question (as he was clearly not paying attention for an answer), noticed his desperate glance towards the laundry basket.

_Wow…it's been a while, huh? He must have used up all his normal shirts. Wait, he's putting something on_…She stared. _Does that really count as a shirt?I would almost have preferred it if he just went topless – at least it wouldn't be so…suggestive! It's like the most ragged beggar's shirt has been transformed into something fancy looking…it's so full of slits and knots…what is that thing **for**? It can't possibly serve any practical purpose except to make him look sexy…Gotta say though, it's good at that…_

Zuko, in the meantime, was fumbling with one of the many lace-ups. Not only had the dratted tailor cut the shirt full of holes, he's added places where the shirt could be loosened, if the wearer chose to show even more skin. However, Zuko noticed, whichever way he chose to wear it, laced up all the way, or not laced up at all, it looked as though he were out to seduce someone. Laced all the way, it was tight, formfitting, and each of the slits left just enough skin showing the give anyone looking at it a good idea of how…well, built…the wearer was. Shit, this was going to be awkward…

He turned to see if she had even noticed. And sighed – she had. She definitely had. Her gorgeous blue eyes were wide, delicate brown cheeks flushed, and her hands seemed to have a death grip on the edge of the bed.

_Oh dear…I don't know if that's a good or a bad sign… _

_

* * *

_

Katara couldn't help but stare. Not only was every inch of him perfectly, beautifully muscled, but the shirt seemed completely designed to show off as much as him as was physically possible. She couldn't take her eyes off him; she could feel a blush rising in her cheeks, and her hands clenched on the edge of the bed – his bed!

_Oh crap…I had better not get a nosebleed or something…come on, Katara, snap out of it, it's just a shirt, and he's just a prince_…

"Um…c-can I just ask…W-what's up with that s-shirt? It's…odd…"

"Oh…haha…it's just something I found in my closet – all my others are dirty, and we don't exactly have a way to wash it on board…"

"Oh, I – I see. Um, if you want…I mean, I'm a water bender, I could clean your clothes…at least a few of them so you don't have to wear that to – to dinner…"

_Gods above, I do **not **want him wearing that past this room…what would Sokka say? What would his uncle **think**!_

"Well, um…I mean, that would be great…that is, you don't have to, but if you could…"

"It's no problem, r-really! Here, I can just use your bathroom – do you have running water?" Katara shook off the awkwardness, briskly lifting the hamper and walking in the direction of the washroom. Zuko, however, had other ideas.

"Well, if you're going to go through the trouble of washing my clothes, I should at least help by carrying them…" He reached around her, snagging the hamper from her grasp.

_Besides_, he thought, _there's some stuff in there that I don't want washed by her_…he dug through the basket, pulling out his armor, which had been casually dumped in the hamper to get it out of the way.

"Oh – I should go put this away….I'll be right back, ok? The water system is easy to figure out, just turn the knobs…the one on the left is cold water; the right is hot, ok?"

He hurried back to his room, carrying the armor carefully so that she wouldn't notice the few pairs of clothes he'd stashed in it.

_I need to be more careful, next time. I mean, it's great that she's doing my laundry, but she should have considered the fact that I'm a teenage guy on a whole ship full of other guys with nothing to do but think…about stuff. I hope she doesn't even **consider** washing Uncle's clothes…Agni knows what she might find! _

_

* * *

_

Katara, meanwhile, had not missed his careful concealing of several pairs of underclothes and pants. But she didn't comment. She merely filled the large bathtub as he'd instructed, keeping her thoughts to herself.

_Geez, I've traveled with two teenage boys for years now, and it not like they don't volunteer to do their own laundry every once in a while, for reasons they won't admit...Oh well, I doubt he's considered that aspect…I'm supposed to be a naïve water tribe peasant, not a "completely-aware-of-typical-guy-stuff" one, as far as he's concerned. Besides, it's not my business. I think._

Zuko, having stashed the clothing deep in his wardrobe, returned to watch her work. It was fascinating, really, how interesting it could be to watch a Water Bender doing a task as mundane as laundry. She dunked the clothes by hand first, and then pulled them out of the water, pulling delicate streams of water (in various shades of brown) from the garments and sending them down a convenient drain, placing the cleaned garments to one side and starting on the next. When she reached the undergarments on the bottom of the pile, Zuko fidgeted and blushed self-consciously, but she didn't seem notice, merely went about the cleaning process with efficiency and speed. Then, having finished, she turned to him. She blushed, very slightly, on seeing _the _shirt, but felt obliged to speak her piece about the clothes he'd hidden. It was all very well for him to try to conceal his activities, but it simply wasn't efficient, and it wasn't like she didn't know…what was the point in only washing the clothes he wasn't embarrassed about?

"Look, Zuko,can I just say -I know this probably hasn't occurred to you, but I travel with my seventeen year old brother and the fifteen year old Avatar. I doubt very much that you've managed to do anything worse to your clothes than they have over the years, all right? Since I'm already here, you might as well let me wash all your clothes, not just the ones that are _only_ sweaty." Having finished her speech, she turned, now blushing bright red (although she'd spoken frankly enough, it was still embarrassing to see the shock coloring his face), and started folding the now-dry clothes.

"Oh…" Zuko couldn't think of anything more to say. She'd basically just verbally slapped him for thinking that she was a secluded little peasant who knew nothing of men. And she had a point – her brother, at least, if not the younger Avatar, was all male…hmm. Zuko went and got the other clothes and handed them over.

Katara chuckled softly at his expression (hovering somewhere on the knife's edge between embarrassment and gratitude) and finished his laundry. Then she reached into the completed pile and drew out a normal shirt, and tossed it to him.

"Ah – thanks…" again, Zuko was at a loss. How did she know exactly how to dumbfound him beyond any ability to speak? Was it just a female trait, or was it just her? He couldn't decide, so he busied himself taking off the disturbing shirt…which, as it happens, was easier to put on than to take off. He struggled with the knots he'd somehow managed to tie, tried to pull it off over his head, failed miserably, and tried to control his rising temper.

Katara, watching him from the background, giggled again. She took pity on him as he turned to stare at her, face very red from frustration and embarrassment, and went to help himget it off.

"Wow, this is a complicated shirt…" she commented under her breath, applying her thin, nimble fingers to the knot on his left sleeve. It undid itself readily enough, as did the one on the right sleeve, but predictably enough, the front was going to be more difficult. The shirt was designed to have a series of delicate, fancy looking knots running down the front; but such knots were clearly not Zuko's specialty, as he'd merely tied each one as tightly as he could.

She hesitated, reaching for the first knot, glancing up at his golden eyes for permission. He blushed, but made a pleading expression (the first of it's kind she'd ever seen on his face, and probably the last)– he knew as well as she did that he would never be able to get it off on his own.

With a slight, apologeticsmile, she drew closer, her fingertips brushing his chest as she began on the first knot. He swallowed. This was awkward. This was _really_ awkward, just standing there, watching her take of his shirt, feeling her hands against his skin…

_Shit! No! Bad thoughts out, good thoughts in…she's just helping me get out of this freakishly slutty shirt so I can put on a normal one…_

Somehow, that didn't help – he could still feel her every movement against his suddenly over-sensitive flesh, and her every breath hitting his skin like a cool breeze off the sea…

She was onto the third knot, fingers working her way down his torso…

_I don't know if I should be grateful or angry that this shirt is so long_…Her hands brushed against his well-built abs, tickling him slightly and setting his every nerve on fire… _Probably grateful, at this rate..._

Katara glanced up at his face, again seeking permission as she worked her way even lower. The shirt extended well past his hips, and she knew she wouldn't be able to avoid contact with…certain areas…as she undid the knots. He nodded again, but in his eyes she detected a hint of fire that hadn't been there last time.

_I hope that he's not angry at me for getting him into this situation…If Aang had never come here, he wouldn't have sweated through that shirt, none of this would have happened…She took a subtle glance at his face. Then again, he doesn't look angry_…

Now she knelt, unable to reach the knots without bending uncomfortably or changing position. She could practically feel – no, check that, she could feel the heat radiating from his body, and glanced up again – only to wish she hadn't. Because she'd changed position, glancing up only gave her a spectacular view of his chiseled abs, not his face. Not to say that was a bad thing, but it was certainly distracting. Speaking of distracting, she'd better watch where her hands went before she drove him to distraction. Lost in her thoughts a moment ago, she'd gotten a little too close, and he'd started to fidget nervously.

"Oh…sorry!" She pulled back a bit and refocused her attention on the knots. Only one to go, right where she really didn't want to go – yet, her mind whispered. She snarled mentally at it and cautiously reached out to take hold of the knot, automatically pulling it closer to herself.

Unfortunately, two things were working against her. First, although she had already undone all but one of the knots, the shirt was still very tight, and gave little to no slack for her to pull on; second, she'd pulled with more strength than she'd intended to – and Zuko had already been somewhat off balance from the slight, inevitable contact she'd made with his skin. So, due to these two factors, when she pulled on the knot, she pulled on Zuko, who stumbled forwards. As startled by his movement as he was, she pulled back again in an effort to get further away – without letting go of the knot. She lost her balance and fell backwards, landing (fortunately) in the sunken bathtub, with Zuko on top of her.

She looked desperately into his face to see if he was angry with her, but didn't have time to judge as she was shoved underwater by his weight. As she got her bearings and came up from underwater, hands still nervously gripping that last knot, she sat down on the bench (for the bathtub was equipped with a deep side and a shallow side in the form of two benches), unconsciously pulling Zuko towards her again. She quickly finished untying the knot and helped him out of the shirt. She chose that moment, then, to look up, just in time to intercept his heated and desperate kiss.

* * *

Several Minutes Before – Zuko's point of view

* * *

She'd reached the last knot. It was almost over. He could feel that his face was flushed (by now, even his ears must surely be blushing), but ignored it as she knelt before him. Zuko, being neither too young nor to innocent to haveexperiencedanything sexual, knew some of the implications of such a position, and begged Agni not to let his uncle come bursting in at that moment. She had glanced up for permission before kneeling – as if he would, or could say no now, even though he knew full well that if he tried, he probably could have pulled the shirt off over his head. Then she'd glanced up again, in a half hearted manner, at an angle where she obviously wouldn't have been able to see his face; from what he'd seen of hers, she was totally lost in thought. Seeing as she wasn't concentrating on unlacing the knot or keeping her hands out of the 'danger zone', they fell – just a little bit – not quite in contact with him, but he could practically feel her closeness to him, and fidgeted, wanting, but not quite daring, to move closer to her.

She noticed the fidget and backed away, assuming he had been upset, but as preoccupied as his mind was, he didn't notice how far she'd pulled away until she'd pulled him with her. His mind was babbling, wondering why she'd pulledaway, even as she scrambledfurther back– then they were falling into the bathtub, the cold water a shock to his overheated skin. They were underwater, and for a moment he marveled at how pale his skin looked when overlapping hers – and that was all it took for him to completely lose control.

When they resurfaced, she pulled him close, yet again by accident, and he moved in as she worked on the last knot.Suddenly her hands were on his shoulders, partially encircling him, as she helped him shrug off the freakish shirt. He tossed it aside impatiently, knowing full well that this was a bad idea, and quiteunable to stop himself, much less convince himself that it really _was_ a bad idea…touching her, kissing her, doing anything and everything he could imagine to her and with her, seemed like a good idea, at the moment…

She glanced up at his face, and he seized the opportunity, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her to him, even as she reached for him,and he lowered his head to crush his lips against hers. Her blue eyes met his smoldering gold ones for a moment before she returned the kiss. He pulled back, just for a moment, examining her face for signs that he'dupset her. Finding none, he kissed her again, exploring her mouth with his agile tongue, letting one of his hands drop off her shoulders to caress her wet, dark skin.

And unfortunately for both of their egos and dignities, that was when Iroh walked in.

* * *

Wow, that was long…and now i'm kinda glad I put the whole story as rated T or M…-;; I didn't actually intend for that to happen for a couple of chapters…but I liked the idea of her doing his laundry and the slutty shirt. Ah well, I hope none of you mind the "adult content"…it was spontaneous, but I think it fits rather well (besides, such things aren't usually planned!)- and you all know perfectly well that Iroh just _had_ to walk in on them - it was inevitable. Ok, maybe it doesn't fit (it was a bit sudden, I suppose). But they needed to get that over with. And, as a side note, there is no Kataang in this at all, not one-sided or otherwise. He's the "annoying little brother" and Sokka is the "over protective older brother." Ok? Great! Cya next chapter! 


	14. Musings and Memories

Yay! I got reviews! I love you all! Ok, well, here's the next chapter…enjoy!

* * *

_Her blue eyes met his smoldering gold ones for a moment before she returned the kiss. He pulled back, just for a moment, examining her face for signs that she was upset. Finding none, he kissed her again, exploring her mouth with his agile tongue, letting one of his hands drop off her shoulders to caress her wet, dark skin..._

_And unfortunately for both of their egos and dignities, that was when Iroh walked in._

_

* * *

_

Even worse, as neither of them had been planning to do anything other than laundry, the door had been wide open. As such, neither of them noticed Iroh's entrance.

He blinked for a moment, his eyes wrinkling around the corners as he hid a smile. Still they did not see him…after all, they _were_ very busy. Nevertheless, Iroh had news to impart, and, more importantly, neither of them was using any kind of protection. Hence, Iroh felt it necessary to interrupt them, happy though he was that there was something to interrupt. Such being his intentions, he prepared to clear his throat loudly…

(A/N: You just _know_ the situation's about to get worse…)

…as Aang came charging into the fray.

"Uncle Iroh, Uncle Iroh! The helmsman said to tell you he's – um, he's…." Aang, being an innocent, sheltered young monk, knew exactly what was going on. He just hadn't expected it. Iroh, from the look of pure and unholy (Alright, so it's an oxymoron, so what?) glee, hadn't really expected it either.

And from the shocked, horrified, and mortified expressions on the guilty couple's faces, neither Aang nor Iroh had been expected, either.

"Uhm…Uncle? When did you…that is…how long…?" Katara, falling into everyone else's habit of calling the great general "Uncle", stuttered as she tried to find out exactly how long they'd had an audience.

Iroh, still smiling to himself, raised both his hands in front of him as a reassurance.

"Don't worry, nephew, _niece_, I had only just walked in and was about to say something when Aang came looking for me. It seems, if you don't mind me giving you the news I cameto givein the first place, that we are very low on supplies, and at the same time, quite lost. Now," he said, turning brisklyto Aang, "What did the helmsman say?"

"Oh – he's sighted land, an island with a crescent shaped bay where we can park the boat – I mean, the ship. He also says that he recognizes it, although he doesn't know which island it is, and he was wondering if Zuko could come and see if he recognizes it too."

"Oh. Right. Sure, I'll go talk to him in a minute…" Zuko struggled to regain his mental balance. He sat down heavily on the edge of the bathtub, massaging his temples and trying to ignore the way the blood was still thrumming through his veins.

"Aang, why don't you go tell the helmsman that Zuko will be up there in a minute or two?" Katara said, tactfully getting rid of the young Avatar, "and I shouldn't have to tell you – "

"Not a word, I know, I remember from those times with Haru and Jet…" Aang laughed, remembering both of her little affairs and how much fun they'd had covering her tracks so that Sokka would never know. Still laughing, now at Zuko's confused and suspicious glance at Katara, Aang whipped out of the room and out of sight.

"…Haru and Jet?"

Katara flushed. This was _not_ something she wanted to talk about!

"Uhm, yeah…Haru was an Earth-bender I met who was really nice and had gorgeous hair –" Katara blushed again – she hadn't meant to say that! "- but who was way to sappy and family oriented, in the end. (A/N: Sorry, I love Haru too, but...I mean...) Jet was a non-bending freedom fighter…you might have heard of the incident where a Earth Nation village inhabited by the Fire Nation was flooded when a dam upriver was destroyed? That was Jet. The only reason that the villagers (and the soldiers, I suppose) survived was because Aang, Sokka and I were able to distract Jet's fighters and warn the villagers…but we didn't know that Jet was so bad, at first, so…But anyway, that was over quickly, and it was years ago anyway," she finished hastily. Zuko looked somewhat mollified, as she'd explained both situations and the shortcomings of both of her former lovers.

"Anyway, I need to change clothes, and you need to put on a _normal_ shirt and go talk to the helmsman. I'll meet you up there, okay?" Katara, walking out of Zuko's chambers in her soaked robes, hoped that Iroh had missed the stress she hadn't been able to resist putting on 'normal'.

She really should have known better. Iroh never missed _anything_.

"_Normal_ shirt…?" Iroh inquired, looking at his flushing nephew. "What kind of un-normal shirts do you have?"

Zuko shot a glare at his uncle as he bent to retrieve one of his newly cleaned shirts, but indicated the other shirt, lying in a puddle in the corner where Zuko had thrown it.

"I had no other clean shirts after training…so while she did my laundry for me, I wore _that_." He thought fast, and added, "I think it was the fastest job of laundry I've ever seen."

Iroh, raising his eyebrows as he looked at the shirt, merely smiled and walked out, commenting over his shoulder,

"Once you've changed, do go and talk to the helmsman…we _do_ need supplies -_and_ a stop at the nearest washer-woman'splace -most of us don't have a handy water bending lover to doour laundryfor us…"

Zuko scowled at the none-to-subtle parting shot, sent a quick rush of flame after his retreating Uncle, and swiftly changed out of the dripping clothes, returned the now clean garments to his wardrobe, and hurried out the door.

When he arrived in the control room, where all the ship's functions were controlled, heimmediatelyturned on heel and left again. But since that wasn't reallyallowed, and he did need to speak to the helmsman, he gathered what courage and dignity he had and opened the door again. Aang was playing Pi-Sho with his uncle and laughing uproariously, Sokka and Katara were having a mock argument (loudly!) as the helmsman and various other crewmembers looked on and laughed along with Iroh and Aang.

"Oh, Great Agni…what did I ever do to deserve this…?" Just then, Momo, the inexplicably freakish, flying _thing_ the Avatar had brought with him, flew over and landed on Zuko's head, and began to chatter in a remarkable imitation of Admiral Zhao. (A/N: I love Momo, don't get me wrong. That's Zuko's opinion, not mine.)

Zuko felt the urge to run to the nearest wall and bang his head against it until either it or his skull broke. Instead, following a second, more powerful desire forrevenge on the nearest and most vulnerable cause of his torment, he reached up and plucked the lemur-thing off of his head, walked around behind the arguing pair, and smoothly droppedMomo down Sokka's shirt.

There was a moment of profound silence as Zuko stood there, eyes closed, looking supremely dignified, as Sokka blinked at him in undignified shock – and then chaos broke loose again, as Momo began to screech and struggle, Sokka shrieked and ran around in circles, waving one arm in the air and trying to get the lemur out of his shirt with the other, and the crew and everyone else present (except Zuko, who was nevertheless doing the same mentally) broke into hysterical laughter and collapsed on the floor, unable to support themselves and laugh at the same time.

* * *

Zuko, still remaining piously straight backed and somber, eventually decided they'd all had enough and snagged Sokka's shirt as he ran by yet again, plucked the lemur from it, and tossed them both out the door.

The laughter slowly died away, and everyone wiped tears of laughter from their eyes as they weakly sat up. Zuko waited for everyone to recover, and for once, his patience paid off. Aang and Uncle quietly resumed their game, Katara came to stand by him (lean on him, more like, as she'd been laughing harder than all the rest), and the crew members dispersed back to whatever jobs they had around the ship. Finally the helmsman turned to Zuko, managing to suppress any lingering guffaws in favor of giving his Prince a serious report.

"Ah, thank you for coming, my lord. As the Avatar told you, we've sighted land…I believe I recognize it, perhaps as one of the places we pursued the Avatar to in the past. Have I permission to drop anchor there and resupply, or at least ask directions to a larger port?"

Zuko considered this, eying the island suspiciously as he pondered. He recognized it as well, as one of the places they'd attacked while the Avatar was in residence there. He knew that, if nothing else, they would not be welcomed…but perhaps…He explained his idea to the helmsman, falling into his "command" voice.

"Drop anchor somewhere far off land, and do not send any of the men on shore. As you thought, this is one of the towns we attacked, and I rather doubt we would be welcome. The Avatar, on the other hand, would surely be treated as an honored guest." He paused, still organizing his thoughts.

"So, if the Avatar will consent to going into town to speak to the headman, ask directions, and gather enough supplies for a few days travel, we need not go anywhere near the town. Aang, are you alright with the plan? We will, of course, provide themoney needed to buy so much in the way of food."

The Avatar nodded affirmatively, and went back to the game. Katara, staring curiously at the island, commented,

"Hey, wait a minute – Aang, isn't that Kyoshi Island?"

Startled, Aang used his air bending to get to his feet, and looked out in the direction Katara was pointing.

"Huh…you're right! See, there's that cool eel thing! Awesome!" Katara rolled her eyes. Zuko, behind her talking quietly with the helmsman, rolled his eyes too – he remembered that nasty eel…fire benders to _not_ like getting wet, and Aang had used that "cool eel" to douse all the fires set by Zuko and his soldiers in the village, and had soaked Zuko and said soldiers in the process. Yuck! Cool eel, indeed.

"Right. That's a point to take into consideration – we should avoid that bay; it seems to be the giant eel thing's territory. This smaller bay on the outside of the crescent should do –" Zuko settled down to planning, and Katara and Aang went out on the deck of the boat to reminisce about their previous visits to Kyoshi Island.

"Haha, do you remember that stupid little marble trick I kept doing? Man, I thought it was so cool…" Aang laughed.

Katara laughed too, but _she_ was remembering Aang's annoying fan club, not to mention to little attitude problem he'd developed because of them. Seeing Aang's glance for her silence, she commented, "Remember how Sokka went to challenge to girls, and they made him wear that dress? Now _that_ was funny!"

Secure in the hilarity of their memories, the two laughed the evening away. Eventually, the bell rang for supper, and they went to wash up and change clothes.

* * *

Dinner was a happy, loud affair, with Aang, Katara, and the crew in general in a good mood. Sokka, the object of everyone's humor (for the story of Zuko's little trick had spread to even the lowest crewmembers, and everyone found it utterly brilliant), wasn't in such a good mood. As he usually did, in order to forget about something he didn't like, he thought about something he did like, a memory or a friend from the past. He was just in the middle of remembering their short encounter with Bato when Iroh stood up at the head of the table.

"In honor of the full moon tonight, and full stomachs tomorrow when the Avatar returns with our supplies, we have scheduled music night to be tonight, in the lower storage rooms…" a general cheer rang out (as well as a few groans, though far too few for Zuko's liking), but Sokka had stopped listening.

Full Moon…tonight he could talk to Yue again. Every full moon, Sokka found some way to be out in the open, away from his sister and Aang, when he could talk to his beloved. Every once in a while, she would talk back, in the form of some natural occurrence; occasionally when he asked her a question, a cloud passing in front of the moon's face was a no, or a fish jumping out of the water in the moon's reflection would be a yes. Of course, there were always times when she merely listened, letting him work his problems out under her comforting guidance and presence…especially when they were far from any real water source. Tonight, Sokka would sit out on deck and talk to her again. Music night was actually the best thing he could have wished for, because all the men attended, even if they were one of the few men who'd groaned. No one wanted to miss out on the potentially hilarious situations, even if some of the singing was painful to hear.

Katara, sitting between Aang and Zuko, had not missed her brother's silence throughout dinner, nor his reaction to the announcement of the full moon. She looked down at her hands, folded neatly in her lap.

Once, she had woken up on the night of a full moon, as Sokka crept off out of the campsite. She'd followed, curious and suspicious, and not a little bit worried that he was sleep walking and would get himself killed. He came to the bank of a large river, and followed it until he reached a natural pool, where the river widened as it went around a bend. There, with a clear view of the moon and it's reflection in the water, he'd begun to talk. Although Katara had stopped too far back to make out what he was saying, every so often, he'd pause on a note that sounded like a question. She'd been shocked when there was a response, however coincidental it had seemed – but when the same thing had happened three times in a row, she'd known that Yue was listening and responding to him. She wanted to doubt, to think that he'd merely gone out to think about her under all that remained of her, but there were only so many times a pearly white fish (odd in and of itself)could jump out of the water from directly under the reflection of the moon everytime he asked a question,and still be a coincidence.

Zuko tapped her arm, calling her back to the present.

"Are you going to go to music night?" he inquired, rather as though he was hoping she'd say no. Katara thought for a minute, and then shook her head.

He smiled in relief, and turned back to his uncle. Katara got the impression, just from that relief, that most of the men used Music Night as an excuse to drink. A lot.

Still, that wasn't why Katara had said no. Whether or not Sokka deserved alone time with his Yue, he wasn't really used to the motion of the boat, and she knew that at night – especially _this_ night – he would be thinking only of his beloved, and not of staying safely on board the ship. She would go and sit in the control room and watch; from there she'd be able to see everything, but hear nothing, giving him the privacy he deserved, without endangering his life. She glanced at Sokka again; he was entirely lost in his thoughts. Her gaze traveled to Aang, who looked excited at the idea of going to music night, clearly unaware of the drinking involved.

_Oh well, _she sighed, _He'd find out what happens when you drink at some point, might as well be tonight when there're people there to laugh at him_…

Finally, she looked to Zuko, who, although he was listening to his Uncle, looked supremely bored. She agreed, actually. Everyone had finished eating at long last, and Iroh was closing up his speech (Katara wondered vaguely what he'd been talking about – whatever it was, the men all burst out laughing at random intervals and Katara was quite sure that she didn't want to know), and everyone stood up to return to whatever duties they needed to complete before Music Night began.

* * *

As she turned to go down the hallway to her room, Zuko caught her arm.

"Ah, Katara…since you're not going to music night, I was wondering…I mean…d'you want to…" he gave up trying to put his jumbled thoughts into words. Katara had understood, and appreciated the offer, but shook her head.

"No…I'm sorry – there's something I have to do tonight…you can come too…if you want. It's just…Sokka…he…" Katara didn't know how to explain that Sokka was going to be staying out all night to talk to his girlfriend and love of his life – the moon. Oh well, might as well just explain. "You remember, back at that huge battle at the Water Tribe city, how Zhao killed the moon? Well, you might not have seen it, but Sokka's girlfriend, Princess Yue?The Moon Spirit had saved her when she was just a baby, so she had part of the Moon _in_ her. So when the Moon was killed, she was able to give her life to bring it back – or rather, to replace it; so now she _is_ the moon, sort of…and so the only time Sokka can talk to her is on the full moon. So I'm going to watch and make sure he's okay from the control room…you do understand, don't you?"

Zuko blinked. After all, it was a lot to take in. Her brother was going out with the moon, and tonight was his night to talk to her, so Katara had to watch and make sure he was all right. Finally, he nodded.

"I'll come with you to the control room, and unlock it for you, and then I'll go to bed. My room's far enough from the storage rooms that I'll be able to sleep, but whenever you decide to go to bed…That is, your room is just above the room where they'll be singing, so…" Katara smiled at him, flattered that he'd offered – twice! – to allow her to stay with him. But she wouldn't be going to bed tonight, because Sokka wouldn't waste a single moment of the time when Yue was there for him.

* * *

Yay! Sokka and Yue get to talk in the next chapter, and then I can throw in some chaos when he sees Suki again! Sorry to be cutting off here, but it's seven pages, and I figure that's probably long enough. As for the whole "Katara-refusing-Zuko's-invitation," well, she can't _always_ let Zuko come before her brother…and Sokka was supposed to be the main character, so...Oh, and at some point during all this, Katara, Aang, Sokka, Momo, and Appa became honored, beloved guests rather than amusing prisoners. Zuko probably just told his uncle to inform everyone that they'd been elevated in status. Maybe I'll put that in somewhere in the next chapter, but in the meantime, we'll just leave that as a discreet, unmentioned but upheld truth. Okay? Okay. sigh…I guessthe story'salmost become AU, because Zuko and Iroh _are_ outcasts, are considered traitors, and are (or at least, probably will be) being chased by Azula, and yet, they have their ship, and their crew, and whatever. I guess that's just how it's worked out. Hmm, maybe I'll have them get shipwrecked – along with the whole crew – by Zula…Well, I dunno, but I'm open to suggestions! R&R! Cya next chapter! Oh andcredit goesto Brix for the idea of bringing Yue into the plot - I hope you don't mind that she's just as the Moon for now, but I do want to make it seem plausible...I'll see what else I can do. Thanks! 


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